Colonel Chris Hadfield has signed off after five months as commander of the International Space Station by performing David Bowie’s Space Oddity in zero gravity.
The Canadian handed over command of the ISS to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov this morning.
But before returning to Earth, Hadfield performed an evocative version of Bowie’s 1969 hit while floating with a guitar through the ISS.
The stunning video, which has been posted and shared online, is made all the more amazing because of the views of Earth and space through the windows of the ISS.
The lyrics are also perfectly fitting.
‘‘Here I am, sitting in a tin can, far above the world,’’ Hadfield sings.
‘‘Planet Earth is blue … and there’s nothing left to do.’’
Hadfield, the first Canadian to walk in space, left Earth on December 19, 2012, and has spent five month aboard the ISS.
But his tour has not been without incident, including an emergency spacewalk on the weekend to fix an ammonia leak.
Hadfield is due to return to Earth later this week aboard a Russian Soyuz space capsule that will land in Kazakhstan.
The 53-year-old former fighter pilot has become something of an internet sensation during his time in space, posting a series of pictures and videos from the ISS. Among them was a lesson in space station cooking.
He’s also got 775,000 followers on Twitter, thanks to his string of social media updates from the ISS.
– AAP
http://www.stuff.co.nz/science/8666665/Bowie-hit-at-zero-gravity
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