Chris Hadfield, the man that took humanising astronauts to a whole new level when he performed a beautiful cover of David Bowie's “Space Oddity,” from the International Space Station, has announced that he will be retiring from the Canadian Space Agency after a 21 year career.

Along with the well sung rendition of the appropriately cosmic song, Hadfield also spent sometime aboard the ISS tweeting his thoughts to the populace of the blue marble. In a similar line to the way sports stars and other well known individuals interact with fans and supporters, Hadfield helped astronauts receive further recognition as important figures in society – as they should be, they're literally our ambassadors to the stars.

All the cool astronauts use dutch angles.

Along with being the first Canadian to take a space walk outside of any official space-craft, he was also the first to take command of the ISS. After his retirement announcement, Hadfield suggested that he would continue to “pursue new professional challenges.”

No word if this would involve work with any of the private space companies that have sprung up in recent years. [yframe url='http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KaOC9danxNo#!']

KitGuru Says: God speed sir. Thank you for your contributions to mankind. [Cheers Wired]

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