Astronaut Chris Hadfield Records Song From International Space Station

Posted on Dec 27th 2012 2:00PM by Jason MacNeil
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NASA

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield could've opted for a simple cover of Elton John's "Rocket Man," David Bowie's "Space Oddity" or even Nazareth's "This Flight Tonight, but instead the first song ever recorded from the International Space Station was an original.

As posted on YouTube on Christmas Eve, Hadfield recorded "Jewel in the Night" from the Space Station.

"'Jewel In The Night,' first recording from Space Station, ready?" Hadfield says before starting the folksy, singer-songwriter tune.

"Sun bright/Jewel in the night/There in my window below/So bright/Dark as the night/With all of our cities aglow," Hadfield sings.

Hadfield continues with references to goodwill towards men, Christmas and "this promise of love" as photos are shown of Hadfield in the Space Station with various items around him. We suspect the packages are for research and not simply a means to reduce outside noise for quality recording purposes. After all, he's recording in outer space. Hadfield says on the video's YouTube description that "you can hear the slight buzz of the station's fans in the background."

The astronaut concludes the song with the following line: "And never cease/This message of peace/From Bethelhem so long ago.

According to TechVibes Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies' Ed Robertson -- who wrote the theme song for the hit television comedy The Big Bang Theory -- were working on a tune earlier this year with the goal of Hadfield and Roberton performing the song together while Hadfield was orbiting the earth. A YouTube clip of the performance had Robertson referring to the International Space Station while Hadfield contributed his own lyrics as well.

Watch Chris Hadfield's "Jewel in the Night" Video