Categories: Science

Astronaut Chris Hadfield sings Space Oddity

Chris Hadfield channels Bowie

I’m posting my favorite space clip, starring astronaut Chris Hadfield channeling David Bowie as he sings Bowie’s iconoclastic song Space Oddity.

Not only is Space Oddity an exquisite piece of music, framing Bowie’s compassion and intrinsic sense of humanity, the song was also iconoclastic, capturing the emotional charge of a generation as we left planet Earth for the first time.

Chris Hadfield has always had a great sense of showmanship, whether he’s conducting experiments in space, visually illuminating physics, imparting wisdom through his amazing book An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth, or singing a song that everyone secretly wanted to see performed in space! The man knows how to swagger, so as astronauts go, kind of a rock star.

After attending the premiere of the film Gravity, Hadfield tweeted: “Good morning! Gravity was fun last night. Fantastic visuals, relentless, Sandra Bullock was great. I’d fly with her.” When asked about his own tour of duty, Hadfield said, “Fortunately, the five months that I spent on the space station went way calmer.”

In fact, his tour of duty was a bit more rock and roll.

Here is the supremely musical Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield saying goodbye to the International Space Station with this mind-blowing version of David Bowie’s Space Oddity.

Amy Eyrie

I'm a novelist and writer of strange and unusual subjects, from Quantum Physics to the dark ruminations of the soul. With a B.A. in creative writing/poetry and a minor in astrophysics, I’ve worked as a journalist, writer and editor in both the U.S. and Europe.