Astronaut Peake pays tribute to ‘Starman’ Bowie from space

Musicians and fans from all over the world have paid their respects to the late music icon, who passed away following a secret battle with cancer at the age of 69. Tributes poured in from every corner of the web, and one felt especially touching.

Bowie himself called Hadfield’s cover “possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created” when he shared the video on Facebook.

Hadfield is well known for documenting his work aboard the ISS on social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr.

“A Space Oddity” tells the tale of Major Tom the astronaut, who becomes stranded in space.

Peake, now aboard the International Space Station – or perhaps a “tin can” as Bowie would have said, described the singer’s music as “an inspiration” to many. Hadfield’s video of the performance made history as the first musical recording in space and has been viewed on YouTube nearly 28 million times. “The stars look very different today”, the ESA remarked in re-tweeting Peake’s message, which was accompanied by lyrics from “Space Oddity”. It was recorded on the eve of the Canadian astronaut’s return to Earth and features him and his guitar floating in microgravity while in orbit and singing Bowie’s 1969 lyrical speculations about the loneliness of space travel.