Astronaut Hadfield to boldly go to BT Young Scientists exhibition

Former International Space Station (ISS) commander Chris Hadfield is to appear at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in January.

Cmdr Hadfield will sign copies of his new book, An Astronaut’s Guide to Life on Earth on Saturday, January 11th, at the exhibition.

He is also due to give a talk in the Convention Centre Dublin on January 9th in an event sponsored by Laya Healthcare.

In addition Cmdr Hadfield will be making an appearance in Ireland later this month when he signs books at Eason's on December 14th.

His daughter Kirstin is a PhD student in psychology at Trinity College Dublin.

Cmdr Hadfield became a celebrity thanks to his social media updates from

on board the ISS earlier this year from where he tweeted pictures of Earth each day. He has taken a particular interest in Ireland and tweeted as gaeilge in February: "Tá Éire fíorálainn! Land of green hills and dark beer. With Dublin glowing in the Irish night."

He invoked the help of his daughter and her Irish friends to get the sentence right.

In February, Cmdr Hadfield, who also has a keen interest in Irish music, duetted with The Chieftains on their version of Van Morrison’s Moondance.

They were playing in Houston and he was live from the ISS.

Then on St Patrick's Day he dressed up in a green dicky-bow and sweater and posted his version of Danny Boy, his all-time favourite song.

In April, he became the first astronaut to conduct an interview with The Irish Times from space.

Though the family, who grew up in Canada, have no Irish roots, Cmdr Hadfield explained that "Ireland has always interested me. It's the source of so much distinct culture that is prevalent worldwide, and especially so in eastern Canada. I have loved and played and sung Irish music my whole life.

“Perhaps it started with my great-grandfather; he had a good voice, and in church when he didn’t like the hymn choice he would sing Danny Boy, much to the preacher’s dismay.”

Cmdr Hadfield announced his retirement from the Canadian Space Agency in June, just a month after returning to Earth.

He spent 35 years with the agency.