Astronaut Chris Hadfield Leads Worldwide Singalong From Space [Video]

Chris Hadfield, International Space Station Commander and William Shatner Twitter buddy, led a worldwide singalong on Monday… from space.

In his final live link from the space station before his return to Earth on May 13, Hadfield took part in a high-tech concert that saw students and musicians from across the globe singing ‘ISS – Is Somebody Singing?’

The song, you may recall, was the first to ever be written and recorded in space, and is a collaboration between Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson.

Hadfield’s space concert was staged to celebrate Music Monday, an annual celebration organized by Canada’s Coalition for Music Education.

While Hadfield strummed his guitar from miles above the earth’s surface, youngsters from countries as far apart as Canada, Australia, and Singapore sang and played intruments.

‘ISS – Is Somebody Singing?’ was commissioned by the Coalition for Music Education and CBCMusic.ca, and revealed much about Hadfield’s creative side. Singer Robertson recalls the song’s creation thus:

“[Chris] created a really poetic, laced-with-technical-info second verse. I was like: ‘Dude, you’re the astronaut. I’m supposed to be the songwriter.’ But it was an awesome surprise.”

The Coalition for Music Education is a non-profit organization that promotes the benefits of music education for young people. The body says it created Music Monday to “celebrate the galvanizing power of music and demonstrate how that power is rooted in school music programs.”

You can watch Chris Hadfield‘s unique space concert below: