Skip to main content

ISS astronaut Chris Hadfield tweets stunning photos and records live music ahead of Google+ Hangout

hadfield robertsonInternational Space Station astronaut Chris Hadfield is, by all accounts, having a whale of a time 240 miles above Earth, tweeting some stunning images from his window on the world, recording a track live with Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson, posting a variety of space-based audio clips on social sound-sharing site SoundCloud and even finding time for a live video exchange with William Shatner of Star Trek fame.

And the fun doesn’t stop there. At the end of the month he’s set to take part in NASA’s first ever live Google+ Hangout from the ISS with fellow astronauts Kevin Ford and Tom Marshburn.

Recommended Videos

Hadfield’s images, which the Canadian astronaut has been posting on his Twitter feed since arriving at the space station in December, are a compelling mix of night and day shots, featuring a contrasting mix of locations around the world.

On Sunday evening he posted a beautiful image (below) he introduced as “tonight’s finale”.

image from iss
Image used with permission by copyright holder

“From here to the horizon to forever – a quick glance out the window of the Space Station,” Hadfield wrote in his tweet.

Check out a couple more of his images below:

photo from space station
“Morning clouds cast self-important shadows off the coast of China.” Image used with permission by copyright holder
image from iss
“If you give wind and sand enough time together, they create art.” Image used with permission by copyright holder

Hadfield was in the news again last week when he and Barenaked Ladies vocalist Ed Robertson performed and recorded the first ever duet from space and Earth. The song, ISS (Is Somebody Singing), was recorded with the help of a high school choir from Toronto and was broadcast for the first time on Canadian TV last Thursday (watch it below). Both Hadfield and Robertson sang and played guitar, while belting out lines like:

“Eighteen thousand miles an hour, fueled by science and solar power, the oceans racing past; at half a thousand tons, ninety minutes to moon and sun, a bullet can’t go half this fast.”

The astronaut will also set another record before the end of the month, becoming part of NASA’s first ever live Google+ Hangout from the ISS. Space fans are invited to get involved, with NASA inviting questions via YouTube, the best of which will be selected for the February 22 Hangout.

[via PetaPixel]

Trevor Mogg
Contributing Editor
Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…
What is spatial audio? The 3D sound experience fully explained
Person listening to spatial audio using Apple AirPods Max headphones.

Since Apple added “spatial audio” to the Apple Music streaming service and the AirPods family of wireless earbuds and headphones in 2021, it feels like you can’t read about new audio products or services without running into that term. And just a few short years later, it’s seemingly everywhere.

This has led to a lot of misconceptions about what spatial audio is, how it works, and why you need to hear it for yourself. People often ask, “If Apple created spatial audio, why are other companies claiming they do it, too?” The answer is that Apple didn’t create it, and you certainly don’t need to own its products to experience spatial audio.

Read more
How to download music from SoundCloud on desktop and mobile
Soundcloud Interface on a Macbook.

If you’re a huge music fan, you’ve probably combed through the many playlists, artists, and albums of your Spotify or Apple Music subscription. But what about all the indie artists of the world? Some music-streaming platforms are better than others at celebrating the
‘unsung gem’ acts, but one of the most reliable forums for new, off-the-grid tunes is SoundCloud.

Founded in 2007, SoundCloud has always prioritized music that’s a bit under the radar. With over 320 million tracks in its library, the platform will even let you download a majority of its songs and albums.

Read more
The best kids headphones of 2024: for fun, safety, and sound
Two kids using the Puro Sound PuroQuiet Plus to watch something on a tablet.

Kid-friendly consumer tech is all the rage these days, so it’s no surprise that there’s an entire market of headphones designed exclusively for young ones. But when we think “kid-friendly,” sometimes we imagine products that are built to be a bit more throwaway than their adult counterparts. That’s not the case with the products on our list of the best headphones for kids, though.

We want our child-tailored headphones to include parental-controlled volume limiters, to ensure our children aren’t harming their eardrums. Pretty much every entry on our list checks this vital box, but we also wanted to point you and yours toward products that offer exceptional noise-canceling, built-in mics for phone and video calls, and long-lasting batteries for schooldays or a long flight.

Read more