Singing spaceman Chris Hadfield has jumped into his new role as tourism ambassador for Ireland by having a go at traditional game of Irish hurling and learning to speak Gaelic with Irish schoolchildren.
Hadfield became a YouTube sensation last year when he posted a video of himself singing David Bowie’s Space Oddity while floating around in space.
He has since retired as an astronaut, and has agreed to become an ambassador for Irish tourism.
He has made four short films to promote the Irish culture. In one he is told by hurling legend Terence ‘Sambo’ McNaughton: “I know you walked in space, but that was a doddle compared to this game!”
The four videos, in which Hadfield also visits the Titanic Belfast and The Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, are designed to promote the country to tourists around the world.
Tourism Ireland chief executive Niall Gibbons said: “He is an enormously popular, global figure and I am confident that the four films we have created of his visit to Ireland will be seen and shared by millions of potential holidaymakers around the world.”
Canadian Hadfield, whose daughter is a student at Trinity College in Dublin, is a hugely popular figure in Ireland, after he photographed the country from space and tweeted several messages in Gaelic.
The title of the videos, An Astronaut’s Guide to the Island of Ireland, is in keeping with the title of Hadfield’s book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth.
Watch the four An Astronaut’s Guide to the Island of Ireland videos below.
An Astronaut’s Guide to Hurling
An Astronaut’s Guide to Titanic Belfast
An Astronaut’s Guide to the Guinness Storehouse
An Astronaut’s Guide to the Wild Atlantic Way
Watch Commander Hadfield singing in space
