Never has a musician been able to sing the lyrics of David Bowie’s iconic song, “Space Oddity,” and mean them quite so literally than this. International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield has filmed the first-ever music video in space covering Bowie’s 1969 classic, which includes these lyrics:
This is major Tom to ground control, I’m stepping through the doorAnd I’m floating in a most peculiar wayAnd the stars look very different today
Hadfield has become a bit of an Internet celebrity during his tenure on the ISS, taking jaw-dropping photos of Earth and tweeting them to his hundreds of thousands of followers. The first Canadian to be in charge of the 230-mile high international outpost has even discussed how everyday tasks like brushing his teeth and trimming fingernails are done in the weightlessness of space.
On Sunday, Hadfield relinquished command of the International Space Station, turning things over to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov. Hadfield and two other crew members who have been on the ISS since December are now heading back to Earth, but not before Hadfield paid homage to one of his favorite musicians with this genuinely stellar music video.
Hadfield tweaked the lyrics of the song to reference the Soyuz capsule that crew members use to return to Earth, singing, “Lock your Soyuz hatch and put your helmet on.” The original Bowie lyric is, “Take your protein pills and put your helmet on.” The homage even caught the attention of David Bowie on Twitter.
CHRIS HADFIELD SINGS SPACE ODDITY IN SPACE!“Hallo Spaceboy…”Commander Chris Hadfield, currently on… fb.me/24sZNW5ly
— David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) May 12, 2013
Hadfield produced the video with the help of the Canadian Space Agency and musician Emm Gryner, who tweeted on Sunday, “Now sending love to Commander Hadfield on his return home.” Hadfield is scheduled to land in Kazakhstan around 10:30 PM ET Monday night.
Nick Ramsey
Nick Ramsey is a senior producer with MSNBC’s “The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell.”