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Canada

Canadian photos from space a big hit

by The Canadian Press - Story: 86470
Jan 26, 2013 / 6:52 am

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, who is currently floating beyond the stratosphere, may soon surpass Prime Minister Stephen Harper in the Twittersphere.

The 53-year-old astronaut has been tweeting daily from the International Space Station and now has more than a quarter of a million followers.

Hadfield has received international attention and praise for the colourful, detailed photos of the world he's been sending since he arrived on the orbiting space lab on Dec. 21.

The Canadian space veteran passed the mark of 250,000 followers on Jan. 24, just over a month into his five-month stay on the space station.

Entering the weekend, the country's prime minister had more than 290,000 followers, although most of the messages sent from his account have been written by staff.

As is the case with many prominent people, most of the short-form messages that appear under Harper's name are crafted by ghost-tweeters working for him.

That's not the case with Hadfield and other astronauts on the space station. All the tweets are his own and, according to one NASA official in charge of social media, that's what is being encouraged.

"There's no ghost-tweeting or anything like that," said Amiko Kauderer, NASA's social media lead at the Johnson Space Center.

"They (astronauts) truly are doing their tweeting."

Hadfield has earned some illustrious fans. Among those who have since exchanged tweets with him are William Shatner, the Montreal-born actor better known as Captain James T. Kirk from "Star Trek."

Canada's most prolific extraterrestrial tweeter has impressed Kauderer, who trains astronauts in the use of social media.

"He's out of control, and it's good," Kauderer told The Canadian Press in an interview from Houston.

"It's been very good (and) we've been very pleased with what he is able to show."

Access Cmdr. Hadfield's Twitter account here.

The Canadian Press
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