Commander Chris Hadfield – Space Oddity

David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” was released on the same day as the 1969 Apollo 11 moon landing, with the space race between Russia and the USA well underway. It was the moment when the world was becoming fascinated with the idea of space exploration, eager to learn of the wonders and dangers of life beyond planet Earth. Bowie takes a look at the brief travels of astronaut ‘Major Tom’ who, after successful liftoff into space, takes a brief spacewalk and then, by way of mechanical failure, is forced to accept his fate—floating in space forever. Due to Major Tom’s unfortunate end, the BBC decided not to play the song until the Apollo 11 team was safely back on planet Earth…slowing the song’s eventual rise to #5 on the British charts.

Space Oddity” is, of course, now famous and is surely the seminal popular song about space travel. It’s been covered by many artists, both famous and obscure, including the likes of Smashing Pumpkins, Natalie Merchant, and one of my favorites, Brazilian singer Seu Jorge (who covers the song and several other classic Bowie tunes in Portuguese in the 2004 Wes Anderson film The Life Aquatic.) None of these covers, however, are as out-of-this-world as Commander Chris Hadfield’s performance from the International Space Station, complete with acoustic guitar. Since they now have internet in space, this video was uploaded to YouTube, where it has over 18 million hits.

Hadfield, likely to avoid the jinx of becoming a space oddity in his own right, puts a positive orbit on the now over 40 year old story of Major Tom. In his version, rather than meeting an untimely demise as space junk, Major Tom returns safely to Earth, where, we can only hope, the papers finally get to know whose shirts he wears.

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