Awesome video, unrelated, those russian capsules seem to land hard.
Astronaut Exits Space Station With Music Video
by The Associated Press
May 13, 2013 5:13 PM
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) In a high-flying, perfectly pitched first, an astronaut on the International Space Station is bowing out of orbit with a musical video: his own custom version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity."
It's believed to be the first music video made in space, according to NASA.
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield's personalized rendition of "Space Oddity" was posted on YouTube on Sunday, one day before his departure from the orbiting lab. He's wrapping up a five-month mission that began last December.
His return aboard a Russian Soyuz capsule, along with American Thomas Marshburn and Russian Roman Romanenko, was set for late Monday in Kazakhstan.
Hadfield, 53, a longtime guitarist who played in an astronaut rock 'n' roll band, recorded the video throughout the space station. He had some down-to-Earth help from a Canadian music team.
"With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here's Space Oddity, recorded on Station. A last glimpse of the World," Hadfield said via Twitter.
The spaceman altered some of the lyrics of Bowie's 1969 version, singing "Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing left to do." The Bowie version goes "... and there's nothing I can do." And instead of "Take your protein pills and put your helmet on," it became, "Lock your Soyuz hatch and put your helmet on."
Planet Earth provided a stunning backdrop for many of the scenes.
"It's just been an extremely fulfilling and amazing experience end to end," Hadfield told Mission Control on Monday. "We're, of course, focusing very much on flying the Soyuz home now and looking forward to seeing everybody face to face. But from this Canadian to all the rest of them, I offer an enormous debt of thanks." He was referring to all those in the Canadian Space Agency who helped make his flight possible.
Hadfield, an engineer and former test pilot from Milton, Ontario, was Canada's first professional astronaut to live aboard the space station and became the first Canadian in charge of a spacecraft. He relinquished command of the space station on Sunday.
He sang often in orbit, using a guitar already aboard the complex, and even took part in a live, Canadian coast-to-coast concert in February that included the Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson and a youth choir, and featured the song I.S.S., "Is Somebody Singing?"
I.S.S. is NASA's acronym for the International Space Station.
Also last February, Hadfield joined the Irish band The Chieftains and two ground-bound astronauts in a Houston concert, singing the lead on "Moondance."
The five-minute video posted Sunday drew a salute from Bowie's official Facebook page: "It's possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created."
NASA broadcast the video on its daily space station update late Monday morning.
One of the video collaborators was piano arranger Emm Gryner, part of the Bowie band in 1999 and 2000.
"Planet Earth IS blue," she said in her online blog, "and there's nothing left for Chris Hadfield to do. Right. Safe travels home Commander!"
Ya it would have been bad press for him to demand it be take down for copyright infringement.Here's what the AP had to say:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=183601928
Props to Bowie for lauding this guy after finding out what he did.
BL.
Ya it would have been bad press for him to demand it be take down for copyright infringement.
Ya it would have been bad press for him to demand it be take down for copyright infringement.
He couldn't, nor could the RIAA. Space isn't pursuant to the Berne Convention, and the DMCA only applies to Earth and a rather small part of it.
BL.
Absolutely amazing. No other words to describe it...
Actually there is. Regardless of if this guy is married or not, he's gettin' some when he gets back to Earth!
Seriously, truly an amazing performance. Just watch and enjoy.
YouTube: video
BL.
At first I only saw snippets of this on Today, and I thought it was an awfully morbid idea. I mean, the original song is about an astronaut dying in space. Then I found out he changed the lyrics.
Better.
Regardless of if this guy is married or not, he's gettin' some when he gets back to Earth!
He is married to his high-school girlfriend Helene, and they have three adult children together.
Commander Hadfield had already sought Bowies permission to use the song. Weve been working on it for about six months, the astronauts son and media manager, Evan Hadfield, told The Independent. It was planned before the mission began and fleshed out as we realised what was possible.
Commander Hadfield was due to land in Kazakhstan early this morning. He will emerge from his capsule as the most famous astronaut for a generation. Next up: Life on Mars? In a Q&A last month Commander Hadfield said his dream was now to visit the red planet. Bowie has already provided the soundtrack.
Interesting to note:
The video was edited by his son.. but was mainly put together and recorded using GarageBand on his iPad.
I'm betting that Apple's marketing teams are sporting some major woodies on how to spin this into sales.
EDIT: From that Independent article:
That made me laugh.
BL.
Evan Hadfield @Evan_Hadfield 1h
@DrCrypt Hi - just sent off an email but wanted to let you know that your article about Dad's video is completely incorrect, factually.
Evan Hadfield @Evan_Hadfield 1h
@DrCrypt He did not film and edit the video on his iPad, and I'm not sure where you would have got that idea. It was edited on Earth.
Not to derail but how could they have saved the Colombia crew? Their only option was a rescue mission that has never been attempted.Reviving Col. Hadfield's work..
He just did an interview with Terry Gross on today's edition of Fresh Air. A very pleasant, and wonderful person to talk to. I didn't realize how much of a burden he carried on his shoulders, in being one of the people at Mission Control who could have objected to Columbia's re-entry, and possibly saving their lives.
I also felt fortunate to not ever have seen the Aurora Borealis, but have seen the Aurora Australis, and was amazed by those lights. But to be able to see them as he had would have been amazing.
This is someone I would definitely look to for mentoring, and look forward to reading his book. But definitely an interview you should read or listen to. This guy made being an astronaut cool again.
BL.
Reviving Col. Hadfield's work..
He just did an interview with Terry Gross on today's edition of Fresh Air. A very pleasant, and wonderful person to talk to. I didn't realize how much of a burden he carried on his shoulders, in being one of the people at Mission Control who could have objected to Columbia's re-entry, and possibly saving their lives.
I also felt fortunate to not ever have seen the Aurora Borealis, but have seen the Aurora Australis, and was amazed by those lights. But to be able to see them as he had would have been amazing.
This is someone I would definitely look to for mentoring, and look forward to reading his book. But definitely an interview you should read or listen to. This guy made being an astronaut cool again.
BL.
Not to derail but how could they have saved the Colombia crew? Their only option was a rescue mission that has never been attempted.
Not to derail but how could they have saved the Colombia crew? Their only option was a rescue mission that has never been attempted.
If I remember correctly Colombia was not equipped with a hatch to the ISS so how could they dock another shuttle? I don't think they had a way to connect.I don't think it was the rescue mission that would have been the problem, as they could have readied another shuttle to send up..
But the way I heard the interview, it was a group decision on whether to attempt re-entry, knowing the problem that they had, and one objection to it would have been enough to not attempt it at all. He was thinking of objecting and with good reason, but decided to agree and attempt re-entry. It was one of his decisions that lead to the loss of Columbia.
I believe I have that right. The interview comes on again on my local NPR station in an hour, so I'll have another listen.
BL.
Since this thread has been revived (and thank you!)…
Hadfield announced on this twitter account that he is running a Hallowe'en costume contest (with prizes). The news story on CBC is here. I've attached what I hope ends up the winner. When you scan the photos you might notice a certain facial hair feature crops up over and again…