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.
(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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