In 1969, 44 years ago, music legend
David Bowie release a song about an
astronaut called Major Tom 'floating in a tin can' in space. A few
weeks ago, life imitated art as real-life astronaut Commander Chris
Hadfield sent a video back to Earth of himself singing the very
same song, 'Space Oddity'. Check it out below...
This week The Daily What reports
on the safe return of Canadian
Space Agency Astronaut Chris Hadfield after 146 days spent
orbitting Earth aboard the International Space Station.
Commander Hadfield landed in
Kazakhstan, Central Asia, aboard a Russian Soyuz Capsule
yesterday.
Hadfield has captured the world's
attention, by sharing much of his daily life with millions of
people on Earth via Twitter and YouTube. His videos
and photographs have reminded the world that space exploration is
not only about looking beyond but also about learning about
Earth.
During his five-month mission
aboard the International Space Station Hadfield and the station
crew also conducted more than 130 science
experiments.
Gilles Leclerc, from the Canadian
Space Agency, said: "Chris has spent his entire career speaking to
students and through this mission has become our space ambassador,
inspiring Canada's next space generation."
In all he spent 144 days on the
International Space Station, spent 146 days in space, made 2,336
orbits around the planet and clocked almost 62 million miles.
During the mission he has:
- Talked to students across the country every week, through video
connections and amateur radio contacts. He produced more than
88 videos that have been viewed about 23 million times
- Reached more than 900,000 followers on Twitter @Cmdr_Hadfield
and won a Shorty award for Best Science tweets
- Explained how to sleep, eat and clean your teeth in space and
shown science experiments on YouTube
- Unveiled Canada's new $5 bank note
However, all work and no play makes for a dull astronaut.
Commander Hadfield also sang with nearly a million people around
the world for Music Monday.
Commander Hadfield is a space
phenomenon. He has flown the shuttle, taking supplies to the Mir
space station, transferring over 1,000 kg of food, water, and
scientific supplies to the cosmonauts.
He helped assemble the
International Space Station. In April 2001, he flew the Space
Shuttle Endeavour for 11 days and spent about 15 hours working
outside, travelling 10 times around the world.
In total, Hadfield has flown
over70 different types of aircraft.
He moved into space flight technology and was the voice of mission
control to astronauts in orbit on for 25 space shuttle
missions.
It's not all space either - on
Earth, he has even spent time at the bottom of the ocean. In 2010,
he spent two weeks testing out living equipment for astronauts on
the seabed.
In his spare time (when he's
actually on Earth) the Canadian Astronaut spends time with his wife
and three children and enjoys skiing, playing guitar, singing,
riding, writing, running, and playing volleyball and squash. What a
guy!
Text adapted from an article on The Daily What
Follow the link above to read the original.