CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - A music video shot aboard the
International Space Station went viral on Monday, turning an
astronaut into an overnight music sensation with his zero-gravity
version of David Bowie's hit "Space Oddity."
Watch Video here;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_RB1ENTayU
As the first Canadian to command the space station, a $100 million
project of 15 nations, Chris Hadfield had already earned himself a
place in the history books.
But as he prepared to return home on Monday after more than five
months in orbit, Hadfield released a poignant "cyberspace"
rendition of Bowie's song, which was first released in 1969 just
ahead of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
The video, with its familiar refrain "Ground Control to Major Tom,"
had more than 1.5 million hits on YouTube early Monday afternoon
and was being touted as the first music video ever filmed in
space.
Complete with re-worked lyrics and high quality footage that
Hadfield and his crew mates shot aboard the orbital outpost, the
video shows the astronaut singing about the impending end of his
space mission while floating in mid-air above the blue Earth.
"Though I've flown 100,000 miles, I'm feeling very still and before
too long I know it's time to go," the astronaut croons.
Hadfield, NASA astronaut Tom Marshburn and Russian cosmonaut Roman
Romanenko, actually have racked up many millions of miles
(kilometers) as they circled about 250 miles above the planet over
the past 5-1/2 months.
Hadfield's singing and acoustic guitar playing is accompanied by
stunning video of the space station flying around the planet, a
guitar free-floating and an eerie shot of a spacesuit at night.
The video, which was put together with the help of Hadfield's son
Evan and with the support of David Bowie, ends with a Soyuz capsule
parachuting to Earth.
The music video caps a public outreach campaign Hadfield has
conducted since before he blasted off for the station in December
2012, sharing comments and photographs on Twitter and other social
media outlets.
