back to article Ground control to major strum: ISS's Hadfield sings Space Oddity

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield has marked the end of his stay on the International Space Station by releasing his high-altitude version on David Bowie's Space Oddity. Cmdr Hadfield has been aboard the orbital outpost since December last year, and commander of Expedition 35 since March. He handed over control of the …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Good man.

    He's probably single handedly done more to inspire the dreams of the next generation.

    Safe Journey home and good luck to him for whatever else he decides to do after this.

    1. Rampant Spaniel

      Well said! Now if we can get his replacement to proclaim he's a real russian hero....

      I can't believe the ISS has been getting stick. Thinking back to my school years, the shuttle, concorde, the chunnel and the ISS (in later years) were massively inspiring and had a very real effect on my attitude to the sciences and engineering. It is absolutely imperative that the ISS is looked upon as another step towards the stars rather than allowing our endeavours in space to come to an end beyond a few sats in LEO.

      1. Stoke the atom furnaces

        The problem with the shuttle was that Apollo, even without Saturn V rockets, was so much more capable.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Not really. Apollo couldn't have put the Hubble into orbit, constructed the ISS or launched Cassini.

          1. Gene Cash Silver badge

            Hm.

            I think Saturn V could have put up the American segment in 3 launches. Of course it would look very different, not being constrained to fit bits into a Shuttle cargo bay.

    2. Chris 244
      Angel

      Re: Good man.

      Prime Minister of Canada.

      One can always hope...

  2. Dazzz
    Pint

    Nice work!

    The guy has done an outstanding job at promoting the ISS during his rotation, I think he has earned lot of respect all over the world.

    1. BorkedAgain
      Thumb Up

      Re: Nice work!

      I quite agree. He's really made the grade.

      1. Rikkeh

        Re: Nice work!

        Has El Reg determined whose shirts he wears?

        1. Rampant Spaniel

          Re: Nice work!

          He was floating in a most peculiar way.

  3. Neil B
    Thumb Up

    Really fantastic

    Inspirational, and really artfully shot.

  4. Financegozu
    Thumb Up

    Beats the original IMHO

    nt

  5. Pansysmum

    This was the most inspirational, fantastic and while overused it fits here, AWESOME!! thing I have seen in years. Everyone should watch this!!!

  6. OrientalHero
    Alien

    That's some tin can!

    Gee, in terms of making the grade whilst we can all dream of being Astronauts, what's the actual number of people that have been in space?

    I mean that's one select club and correct me if I'm wrong, don't most of them have military backgrounds with air force being the primary? Strangely enough in Sci Fi it's usually the Navy as the term is "space ship" and not "space plane". Sounds horribly wrong doesn't it and with no atmosphere, they definitely aren't planes. But there's no sea either so space ship is just as much an oxymoron.

    Space capsules it is then!

    1. phuzz Silver badge
      Thumb Up

      Re: That's some tin can!

      Submariners would probably make good astro/cosmo-nauts, having prior experience of being stuck in a small tin can, relying on a life support system, and they're generally very well trained. (IIRC engineers on nuclear boats end up learning enough to build their own reactor pretty much).

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: That's some tin can!

        Not quite, they get trained to do every other job on their boat (they don't call them ships). Building one, nope, running one from any post/position, yup. I trained as a cadet on a diesel-electric - ex. end of WW2 - sub that the CDN navy used for anti submarine training on the west coast. Leaked like a sieve every time we submerged. Had to keep tabs on the amount of water we took on while submerged to ensure that we had enough potential displacement in order to surface again. Not something for claustrophobics. Was a memorable experience. The diesel crews had little respect for the nuke crews though.

  7. Daniel B.
    Happy

    It looks awesome

    We need more of this. It's cool enough to inspire more people into space exploration.

    1. OrientalHero
      Happy

      Re: It looks awesome

      Heh, the most eye opening bit for me was watching the lights go by on the surface of the Earth.

      Didn't realise it was all so visible. I mean I've seen piccies before of Earth from space but usually it's the blue and white gem. There are also the "night" shots of Earth showing lit continents but I always thought it was some kind of infrared shot thru the clouds or some photoshop effort....

      So to see the lit up continents is as you said "awesome".

  8. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
    Happy

    I think this guy has done more to get the ISS into the mainstream media than anyone in ages. Certainly the UK media. And not for stuff going wrong either. He's just been getting nice photographs and slightly dodgy songs out there, and sneaking the old science in with it.

    When do they build the next module of the ISS. The recording studio? I'd love to see a string quartet playing in micro-g, and it would be interesting to see what playing the drums was like. I think the UK should build it, then send Madness up there. Nutty-boy dancing in Sppppaaaaaaccccceeeeeee...

  9. BigFire
    Thumb Up

    While his singing voice is fine, his guitar need a bit of work. Still, Bowie didn't play his version while floating in space.

    1. OrientalHero

      Heh, noticed in the credits at the end that the music was recorded before he went up.

      But still, I'd love to have those problems of how to play in zero/micro G.

      1. JaimieV
        Holmes

        Guitar and vocals recorded on the ISS, other instruments (and presumably mixing + video edit) on Earth - no dates though, and I'd be quite surprised if the backing track had been premade before Hadfield knew what an audience he would have by the end of the trip.

  10. NotaFanboi
    Thumb Up

    Wow really impressive

    Great idea. Not only is it well shot, inspiring stuff, it makes the space station cool. Chris has spent his time on the ISS send cool message after cool message from the Aussie wild fires to the water experiment.

    Well done.

  11. cordwainer 1
    Thumb Up

    Oh, my...

    Tears in my eyes

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