Chris Hadfield became a global sensation after he posted a music video of himself singing David Bowie’s song Space Oddity aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Now, apparently in response to growing demand for space oddities and musical productions, Hadfield announced that he will soon release the first album of music recorded in space.
Hadfield’s internet fame has only accelerated since the Space Oddity performance. Since then, the social media darling has produced countless videos to his fans chronicling his life in space, including one in which he tried out his fans’ science experiments:
Hadfield’s 11-song album will be released in October 2015, according to the Globe and Mail, but the retired astronaut has already released a music video for one of his songs. Unfortunately, the music video does not include footage of Hadfield in space. Instead, the lyrics are accompanied by a cute cartoon animation of space travel.
In an interview with the Globe and Mail, Hadfield discussed some of the challenges of recording music in zero-gravity conditions. “It’s hard to play guitar on a spaceship, because there’s nothing to hold the guitar stable,” he said. “The producer who was helping me, Paul Mills, said: ‘Your guitar playing is a little messy.’ I said, yeah, you come up here and play guitar.”
Hadfield also explained that his voice changed in space because gravity no longer naturally drained his sinuses. “There’s no gravity to pull the fluid out of your head,” he said. “So you always have a full head and swollen tongue and vocal cords.”