Is Somebody Singing?

I mentioned previously that Commander Chris Hadfield, astronaut and musician, was going to collaborate with fellow musician Ed Robertson of The Barenaked Ladies on a song, written half on earth, half from space. Today they debuted it. It's called ISS (Is Somebody Singing?) and it is a treat.

See it debuted live on CBC radio here.

What an incredible time we live in!!! Think of the Mercury and Apollo astronauts, with their grainy video.

Anyway, to the song - snippets:

"There goes home, that brilliant ball of blue...
What once was fueled by fear, now has fifteen nations orbiting together here...
So sing your song, I'm listening, out here where stars are glistening,
I hear your voices bouncing off the moon;
If you could see our nation, from the International Space Station,
You'd know why I want to get back soon."

I was especially touched by "what once was fueled by fear..."

Sheet music and lyrics here (PDF).

And I believe I already mentioned that the song is in aid of Music Monday, a project of the Coalition for Music Education. A very good cause indeed.

ronnie (humming)

@Cmdr_Hadfield redux

Further to my previous post, if you'd like to watch the CBC's Chief Correspondent Peter Mansbridge's interview with Chris Hadfield from the ISS on the program "Mansbridge One on One", you can do so here. It aired today and was a really good interview.



ronnie

@Cmdr_Hadfield

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is currently on the International Space Station. (As of March, he will become Commander of ISS Expedition 35, and the first Canadian to hold the position of Commander.)

In the meantime, he is conducting and participating in experiments and doing all the astronauty, sciency things that get done on the ISS. But he is also doing something really extraordinary. He is, for the first time that I am aware of, using social media to really interact with people on earth from space. He does the standard interviews and PR exercises that astronauts have always done since the Mercury days; but he keeps up a steady stream of brief messages - and even better, photographs, hundreds of photographs - to over 250,000 followers via Twitter, from the account @Cmdr_Hadfield.

I know most of you guys aren't on Twitter, but you don't have to be to look at the messages and photos - of earth from space, of life on the ISS - Hadfield is posting. They're all available for viewing right here. He has sent photographs from so many locations all over the globe  you are sure to find one that speaks to you, whether it's New York City or the Suez Canal or a corner of Australia he compares to a Jackson Pollock painting. Brian will probably like this one. Deserts, and the juxtaposition of deserts and habitations within them, particularly fascinate him.

And he should get some kind of award for this video alone.

He's also a musician and has his guitar with him on the ISS. He's done some recording up there, and is collaborating on a piece with Ed Robertson of the Barenaked Ladies for Music Monday, a project of the Coalition for Music Education.

Who says the Renaissance Man is dead?

ronnie

Maybe you shouldn't have gone stepping through the door.

In honour of the last space shuttle flight, let us all remember:



ronnie

Possibly one of the most awesome things on teh interwebs

The interior of the Discovery Shuttle cockpit. In panoramic surround-view.

There ya go. Look around. Make yourselves comfortable.

ronnie

Sign in Space

Okay, as a deaf person and a space nut, I'm not ashamed to admit this made me cry.

American Astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, currently on the International Space Station, has sent the first-ever ASL message from spacen

I've written before about how it feels, as a deaf person. to be continually an afterthought.

Tracy Caldwell Dyson knows we we are here. And she spoke to us. Who knows what deaf kid will be inspired to pursue a career in space as a result of her six-minute video?

On the 41st anniversary of the moon landing, a very timely and moving development.

ronnie

"My son... is a star!"

I was just watching "Power Play", Canada's version of, oh, I suppose, "The Situation Room", where the day's politics are debated and re-debated. It ended off, on this Friday, with a panel of CTV reporters offering tidbits about their week.

Veteran CTV reporter Craig Oliver offered this anecdote about standing next to the dad of Guy Laliberté, founder of Cirque de Soliel, who is a "tourist astronaut" on the current Space Station mission.

As the Shuttle took off, Oliver said, Laliberté senior turned to him and said, "My son is a star!!!"

"'In more ways than one', I thought to myself," Oliver said.

ronnie

[UPDATE] Apparently tonight there's going to be an impressive chain of concerts organized by Guy Laliberté, in the pursuit of seeing that "everyone has access to clean water". Well, there are many worthy causes, but few I can think of that are much worthier.