Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield performing aboard the International Space Station a revised version of David Bowie’s song Space Oddity, yesterday.
MOSCOW: Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has marked his upcoming departure from the International Space Station by singing a cover version of David Bowie’s classic song “Space Oddity” recorded on the orbiting laboratory.
Hadfield, 53, who became a global star during his half-year stint on the ISS with regular Twitter updates that gave insights into daily life in space, was due to touch down back on Earth early today.
The video of the moustachioed Canadian spaceman crooning his way through the Bowie track has already become a huge hit on YouTube, with over half a million views less than a day after it was first posted.
The video shows Hadfield singing with an impressively melodious voice as he floats through the station in the zero gravity with a guitar which he also plays with some aplomb.
“Ground control to Major Tom/ Lock your Soyuz hatch/ And put your helmet on,” he sings, looking wistfully out into deep space through one of the portholes of the ISS.
His lyrics lightly adapted Bowie’s 1969 original, somewhat more suggestive, original words which went: “Take your protein pills/ And put your helmet on.” “With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here’s Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World,” Hadfield wrote on Twitter to introduce the song.
Hadfield’s voice and guitar solos were recorded on the station although the backing track was compiled by a team on Earth. The video provided a fitting climax to Hadfield’s six-month mission to the ISS which has shown him use social media more effectively than anyone in the history of space travel. His imaginative use of Twitter to show how the Earth looks from space has captured the public interest and arguably made him the most recognisable astronaut since Neil Armstrong. AFP
