Today is your last chance to watch Chris Hadfield’s “Space Oddity” video on YouTube
It was a year ago that Chris Hadfield posted his heartfelt goodbye to the International Space Station on YouTube. The video, in which Hadfield plays a cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity” while floating through the station, has since been viewed almost 22.5 million times.
The clip was a major contributor to Hadfield’s success—the capstone of a five-month social-media strategy that eventually turned him into the most famous living astronaut after Buzz Aldrin. And yet, it was always a time-limited proposition, because Hadfield, in his dad-moustachioed rectitude, sought permission from Bowie before recording the tune. Bowie agreed to allow the song to be used for a year, and now, according to Hadfield, the time has come to take it down.
Bowie's last day – we had permission for a year, so our Space Oddity video comes down today. One last look: http://t.co/z6umXHoPCk
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) May 13, 2014
(If you don’t see it embedded above, it’s already gone.)
So, that’s sad. But we suspect it’s only a matter of time before Hadfield picks up the guitar again.
CORRECTION: Actually, per the Ottawa Citizen, it was one of Bowie’s publishers, not Bowie himself, who granted the one-year license.
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It was a year ago that Chris Hadfield posted his heartfelt goodbye to the International Space Station on YouTube. The video, in which Hadfield plays a cover of David Bowie’s "Space Oddity" while floating through the station, has since been viewed almost 22.5 million times.
The clip was a major contributor to Hadfield's success—the capstone of a five-month social-media strategy that eventually turned him into the most famous living astronaut after Buzz Aldrin. And yet, it was always a time-limited proposition, because Hadfield, in his dad-moustachioed rectitude, sought permission from Bowie before recording the tune. Bowie agreed to allow the song to be used for a year, and now, according to Hadfield, the time has come to take it down.
https://twitter.com/Cmdr_Hadfield/status/466168309441122304
(If you don't see it embedded above, it's already gone.)
So, that's sad. But we suspect it's only a matter of time before Hadfield picks up the guitar again.
CORRECTION: Actually, per the Ottawa Citizen, it was one of Bowie's publishers, not Bowie himself, who granted the one-year license. ){kind=link}