Chris Hadfield, the Commander of the International Space Station (ISS), just returned to earth minutes ago as this is being written Monday night. He touched down in Kazakhstan after riding down in a Soyuz capsule with two of his crewmates after spending five months in space.
He stars in the video below, filmed on the ISS — it is the most unique music video I have ever seen.
The video was just released today, May 13, and it already has almost 3 million views on YouTube.
Commander Hadfield recorded the guitar and vocals on the ISS; the other music tracks were recorded on Earth. The work, coordination, and planning for the video started long before he blasted off into orbit. Below is an excerpt from the LA Times:
A few years ago, Hadfield approached longtime friend and fellow Ontario native Emm Gryner, a singer-songwriter and one-time background vocalist for Bowie, to work up a piano arrangement of “A Space Oddity.” She tapped [Joe] Corcoran, who had worked with her before, and the project took flight.
Only the vocals and guitar were recorded in space, and the video, produced by Hadfield’s son, Evan, and Andrew Tidby, was synced with the audio tracks – just as it’s done for music videos here on Earth.
Hadfield sent a rough track of just the vocals to Corcoran, who mapped the arrangement around it, adding Gryner’s piano, and some ambient sounds that Hadfield recorded in the space station. They can be heard swelling through the trippy, expansive interludes of the Bowie classic.
Commander Hadfield set new standards for providing information about life in space. He was very active on Twitter and Facebook, downloading (pun intended) hundreds of photos and descriptions. You will enjoy cruising through his photos and narratives on his Facebook page.
You’re welcome.
Hmmm. Maybe this should have been posted on Fire Aviation instead 😉
