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NASA astronaut shot a stirring music video on the space station

Drew Feustel collaborated with Gord Sinclair of The Tragically Hip for a song about life in orbit.

Amanda Kooser
Freelance writer Amanda C. Kooser covers gadgets and tech news with a twist for CNET. When not wallowing in weird gear and iPad apps for cats, she can be found tinkering with her 1956 DeSoto.
Amanda Kooser
2 min read

NASA's Drew Feustel is scheduled to return to Earth this week after his stint on the International Space Station, but he has given us a parting gift. Feustel recorded a touching music video during his time in orbit.

The song, All Around the World, comes from a collaboration with Gord Sinclair, bassist for Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. Sinclair is a friend of Feustel. 

"Special thanks to the crew of Expedition 55 and 56 for their support and participation in our human space exploration mission. I am ever thankful for the support of my family, friends, and colleagues… love is all around us and we are all around the world," Feustel wrote on Twitter on Tuesday in reference to the video.

The video features footage from both space and Earth and shows Feustel playing one of the guitars available on the ISS. Those guitars came in handy during an astronaut space jam in April

The song poetically encapsulates the astronaut experience on the ISS.  The lyrics include the lines "the world goes fast as we float slow/the stars above the Earth below/we look down to see the sky."

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield knows a thing or two about recording a music video in space. His ISS version of David Bowie's Space Oddity was a big hit in 2014. Hadfield shared his thoughts about Feustel's tune on Twitter: "Space music -- lovely, thoughtful tune from a friend on the Space Station with The Tragically Hip." 

Feustel officially handed over station command to European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst on Wednesday. He is scheduled to take a Soyuz spacecraft back to Earth on Thursday along with crewmates Ricky Arnold of NASA and Oleg Artemyev of Russian space agency Roscosmos.

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