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The Soyuz capsule has just brought three crew members back to Earth from the International Space Station and one of them isn't just a spaceman;

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he's becoming a rock star as well.

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Jeanne Moos has his story.

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Ground control to Major Tom...

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He will forever be known as the "singing astronaut."

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As he orbited the Earth,

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then-International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield sang a version of David Bowie's 1969 hit "Space Oddity."

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This is Major Tom to ground control...

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...that has folks on Earth over the moon.

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This is ground control to Major Tom...

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That's really his voice and guitar playing, recorded up there, with more music mixed by producers on the ground. Chris's son described it as...

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Unbelievably fun to do. It took six months.

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Such a hit, even another commander responded in cyberspace.

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William Shatner joked, "I have two words for him: show off."

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You know who else tweeted about the song? David Bowie himself.

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"Chris Hadfield sings 'Space Oddity' in space. 'Hallo, Spaceboy,'" which is the name of another Bowie song.

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This was the Canadian astronaut's grand finale before heading home after five months in space.

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Though I've flown 100,000 miles...

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Even before he covered Bowie, Chris was winning fans,

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demonstrating how astronauts use a barf bag, how they brush their teeth with no running water.

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So, what I do is I just swallow the toothpaste.

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He did a sing-along with hundreds of school kids back on Earth.

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In an effort to demonstrate not just the science of space, but...

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The humanity of it.

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He even poured water in his eye to show what happens when astronauts cry.

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You just end up with a bigger and bigger ball of water.

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In between tweeting out pictures of Earth, Chris recorded the Bowie song.

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The astronaut took some minor liberties with the lyrics, tweaking them to fit the current mission.

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His one major change from Bowie's version...

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Your circuits dead; there's something wrong.

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Gone is the part Bowie sang about a major malfunction.

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Here am I floating in my tin can...

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There's something so touching about it. And if ground control makes you lose control, at least you'll shed a tear and not a water ball.

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Jeanne Moos, CNN, ...

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This is Major Tom to ground control...

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...New York.