Tourism Ireland has landed Chris Hadfield as a tourism ambassador and this week debuted the first of four promotional videos featuring the retired Canadian astronaut.

Sarnia, Ont. native Hadfield, while serving as International Space Station commander last year, gained widespread international attention for his Twitter messages from space, including several highlighting Ireland and St. Patrick's Day, some of them in Gaelic.

Hadfield filmed the tourism videos during a five-day visit to Ireland last year, while acting as keynote speaker at a motivational event and attending the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition.

In a news release, Tourism Ireland says it is hoping that Hadfield will help make Ireland a top vacation destination by showcasing some of the country's top visitor attractions and experiences.

"These are four great films which I’m certain will persuade people from around the world to pay their own visit to Ireland," Leo Varadkar, the Irish minister for transport, tourism and sport, said. "We’re delighted that Chris had such a good time during his stay and hopefully he’ll be back for another visit in the near future."

During his visit, Hadfield and his wife Helene also visited Croke Park and the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin, as well as Donegal, and in Northern Ireland they toured Armagh, Cushendall, the Glens of Antrim and Titanic Belfast.