For the past five months social media users have been given a new look at life in space, and an unparalleled view of the Earth courtesy of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, Commander onboard the International Space Station. He has granted followers of his Twitter, Youtube, Tumblr and the like - everything from daily life, to what happens when you cry in the zero gravity of space. For many though it was his high quality photographs of our fragile planet, taken from orbit but in astonishing detail, that brought Hadfield to their attention, complete with his unwavering view that there are no borders in space. Regardless of their location his pictures were accompanied by a description of where each of "us" as human beings live, rather than individual nations. A perspective that perhaps only those who serve on an international project orbiting the earth every 93 minutes can truly appreciate. Perhaps what truly separates Hadfield from previous astronauts and their messages back home however, is the level at which he has interacted with those still on the planet's surface. He has performed downlink duets with Barenaked Ladies singer Ed Robertson and a host of students at the Ontario Science Centre, and has even taken part in an "Ask Me Anything" session on popular website reddit. Before finishing his mission and coming back to earth earlier this week, Hadfield and his team - he works in conjuction with NASA, the CSA, and his sons back on earth who have access to the web on his behalf - gave us something which even for them was an unexpected gem. http://youtu.be/KaOC9danxNo Combining all of his artistic talents as singer, photographer and film-maker, his final gift to planet earth was a cover version of David Bowie's 1969 hit Space Oddity. I feel as though I would be doing it a disservice by describing it with the cringe educing pun that is "out of this world", but it has to be said that it is wholly accurate. What could have just been something from an astronaut with a hobby, Hadfield is an impressive singer and even songwriter in his own right. Although most of the music was recorded and arranged back here on earth by Joe Corcoran and Emm Gryner, Hadfield performs the guitar solos himself as well as all of the vocals. Music is something he obviously takes seriously, but not to the extent that he doesn't have fun with it, as the "Recording In Session" notice on his sleeping pod makes clear. Space Oddity is a something which the small team have put together with an obvious passion to make every aspect the best that it can be. Firstly, as a song about a man in space with lines such as "Here am I floating in my tin can", Bowie's classic is perhaps the only song that could have been chosen. Not that it is kept word for word however, alongside reversing the launch countdown with "Detach from station, and may God's love be with you", the rather melancholy ending of dead circuits and something wrong has been changed to serve his own situation, "The time is near/There's not too long" just days before his own mission's end and he returned to earth. Not to be outdone by the lyrics, the video is where this truly shines above the rest. Filmed on board by Hadfield himself (although he commanded a small crew of other astronauts aboard the ISS, none of them have been credited), the imagery is just as stunning as his photographs, but the addition of music and lyrics manages to bring out even more of an extra something. Opening with a view of the ISS in orbit, we are soon shown inside the station, and the juxtaposition of "Ground control to Major Tom" obviously sung in space are more than outweighed by the matching of "Planet Earth is blue" with such a clear view of the curved surface of our home in the background. Complete with a time lapse shot of the world turning beneath the station's wings, cities clearly visible by their own lights shining brightly, it only goes to show that with modern blockbusters focusing heavily on CGI, it is natural spectacles such as this that is what HD was truly made for. Although the footage of the capsule returning to Earth is one without Hadfield in it himself, the closing images clarify what the whole piece has been about all along, and Hadfield's accompanying tweet "A last glimpse of the world" could hardly have been more fitting. Like Johnny Cash's seminal Hurt, Hadfield's Space Oddity is not just one man's way of reflecting on his personal journey that is coming to an end, but also his way of saying thank you to all those countless people who have followed him. Now that Commander Chris Hadfield is safely back on earth his orbital photography will be missed, but thanks to the fact he is still tweeting, his observations won't be. From a multi-billion dollar environment designed purely for science, Space Oddity is truly a piece of art.