Ground control to Commander Chris: Time to return

Chris Hadfield flies back to Earth today having signed off after five months as commander of the International Space Station by performing David Bowie's Space Oddity in zero gravity.

The Canadian handed over command of the ISS to Russian cosmonaut Pavel Vinogradov yesterday.

But before returning to Earth, Hadfield performed an evocative version of Bowie's 1969 hit while floating with a guitar through the ISS.

"With deference to the genius of David Bowie, here is Space Oddity, recorded on Station," he tweeted. "A last glimpse of the World."

Bowie replied with the tweet "Hallo spaceboy".

The stunning video is made all the more amazing because of the views of Earth and space through the windows of the ISS. The lyrics are also perfectly fitting.

"Here I am, sitting in a tin can, far above the world," Hadfield sings. "Planet Earth is blue ... and there's nothing left to do."

The video was mixed with the help of the Canadian Space Agency and features modified lyrics. "Ground control to Major Tom, lock your Soyuz hatch and put your helmet on," he sings. Hadfield is due to return aboard a Russian Soyuz space capsule that will land in Kazakhstan.

The 53-year-old former fighter pilot has about 790,000 followers on Twitter.

- additional reporting AAP