At issue with Commander Chris Hadfield

If you conducted a poll of North Americans and asked them to name a modern astronaut, admittedly, the majority of people wouldn't be able to name any. However, of the people who could name one, the overwhelming majority would give the name of Commander Chris Hadfield. Chris Hadfield is a retired Canadian astronaut who has flown two space shuttle missions, served as the commander of the International Space Station (ISS), and was the first Canadian to walk in space. He is the most well known and most popular of any modern astronaut because of his large presence on social media, described by Forbes as "perhaps the most social media savvy astronaut ever." Along with his duties aboard the ISS as a scientist and commander of the station, he also worked a great deal on promoting space science through YouTube and other social media channels. He has a popular Tumblr blog, created one of the most popular Reddit AMA threads of all time, and has over 1 million followers on Twitter.

Before departing the ISS for the final time in March of 2013, Hadfield had the brilliant idea of covering David Bowie's classic song "Space Oddity".  He recorded the vocals and guitar while in orbit and the video is made up shots of him inside of the ISS.  The video accumulated over 22 million views on YouTube and has the distinct
ion of being the first music video ever to be shot in space.

Hadfield's rendition mostly stays true to the original, though there are some slight thematic and lyrical changes that reflect Hadfield's purpose.  Lyrically, his version is more optimistic, hopeful and celebratory about the concept of space travel. Overall, Hadfield's version puts a more positive spin on going into outer space, especially because in his version, he returning from an expedition, rather than starting one, as Major Tom does in the original song.

Going back to the hypothetical poll from the first sentence of this post,  the fact that many people might give names like Neil deGrasse Tyson, Richard Branson, or Neil Armstrong when asked for a modern astronaut highlights the reasons for Hadfield's desire to connect with as many people as possible. He has done so much to advance public knowledge of space exploration and it can be felt through all of his online interactions just how much he loves being in outer space and how much he wants to convey that joy to everyone else.

- Robert