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Tuesday, May 14, 2013

Ground Control to Major Tom

This has very little to do with miniatures, but it does have to do with art, and the universe, and possibly the most moving music video in history.

Canadian Commander Chris Hadfield came back to earth today from a five month mission on the International Space Station.


American Thomas Marshburn, Russian Roman Romanenko and Commander Hadfield landed as planned southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan at 8:31 am local time.

Hadfield, 53, 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.


Hadfield bowed out of orbit by posting a music video on YouTube on Sunday — 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. "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. According to David Bowie: "It's possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created."

There's a reason I use the word "universe" in my blog name, it's because I believe in technology, and the future and I think a commitment to exploring space is the only way this planet of ours will ever get past the poverty and wars that hold us back.








The technology that evolved from the 1960s space race shows that dollar for dollar, spending money on space exploration is so much more fruitful than spending on wars, and fewer people die....


(Above and below, actual drawings from a 1970s NASA project on potential colonization of space)


(The first two, and last two, photos courtesy of the NASA Ames Research Center)

Whether you agree with me or not, please enjoy the video produced by Commander Hadfield, his son Evan, and NASA, found here


Wishing you only good things, Neen

6 comments:

  1. Neen! I heard this yesterday. Thanks for sending the link. It is most amazing. I keep watching it over and over.

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    1. Thanks for your comment Casey, Commander Hadfield has inspired so many young people, what a great job he did up there!!

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  2. thanks for posting this I was so interesting in space travel when I was growing up..did you know that once we leave earth we are bombarded with radiation that we are protected from while we are on earth..we have to overcome that before we can colonize other planets (Rich watchs too much of the Science Channel)

    Hugs
    Marisa

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    1. Wow, thanks for that information Marisa! If we solve that problem, maybe along the way we'll also figure out how to cure skin cancer or provide safer mammograms and other imaging. I love seeing kids excited about the future, there's so much bad news they get hit with constantly. Even NASA is saying how much good Cmndr Hadfield has done (can there be such a thing as too much of the Science Channel :@)).

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  3. Hi Neen! I was really wowed by the 'Major Tom' that Commander Hadfield performed in outer space! He can really sing and play the guitar! I wonder how stressful it was for him physically to return to a gravity state when he has spent 5 months floating everywhere? Interesting. Being the age I am, I vividly remember all the Apollo voyages and how the whole world watched them launch and go up and then the the world watched all the splash downs when they returned. But truthfully, until I read your posting, I didn't even know Commander Hadfield had even been up there!? Man alive, What planet have I been on!!?

    elizabeth

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  4. Elizabeth, thanks for commenting! You are not alone, the media has been reporting that many, many people were unaware of what has been happening on the space station, and that the YouTube video was the first they had heard of Commander Hadfield. So, kudos to him and his son for creating such a wonderful music video that has reached so millions of people!

    Cheers, Neen

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