International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield has spent the last year charming the pants off the earthbound public with his tweets and Tumblr posts from the International Space Station. Now, it turns out he’s got pipes, too: to celebrate the end of his tenure on the I.S.S., he’s recorded a gorgeous and touching tribute to David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.”
It’s not the first time Hadfield has serenaded us from orbit: his guitar has been a regular companion on the ISS, and in February, he took part in a live Canadian coast-to-coast concert. He joined the Chieftains and two astronauts on the ground for another show in the same month, and later recorded a single with the Barenaked Ladies.
He’s also a veteran member of Max Q—an all-astronaut band that’s been playing with rotating lineups since 1987. When Hadfield’s on the ground, he covers bass and lead vocals. And he’s good—really good. As of this morning, the “Space Oddity” video had passed 1.5 million hits, and Bowie’s Facebook page lauded it as “possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created.”
