Of all the things astronaut Chris Hadfield has come to be known for, one of the most poignant is his rendition of David Bowie's 1969 hit single Space Oddity - recorded while Hadfield was aboard the International Space Station in early 2013.

After arriving on the ISS in December 2012, Hadfield became known for his efforts to engage with Canadians and citizens around the world via social media.

Space Oddity though, released online on the eve of Hadfield's return to Earth in May 2013, was the smash hit. It garnered nearly 24 million views on Hadfield's YouTube page - plus countless re-posts and television airings means the actual number of views is likely much higher.

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And when the video was taken down in May 2014 to honour the one-year licensing agreement with Bowie and his record label, there was considerable backlash against Bowie and the label.

"This sequence wasn't anyone's fault," wrote Hadfield on his blog. "The day we took the video down we started to work again to get permission to get it re-posted."

On Monday, due process came to a happy conclusion with the video being reactivated.

"And now, we are so happy to be able to announce that my on-orbit cover of Space Oddity is back up on YouTube. This time we have a new 2-year agreement, and it is there, for free, for everyone. We're proud to have helped bring Bowie's genius from 1969 into space itself in 2013, and now ever-forward," Hadfield wrote.

Besides becoming a music star, Hadfield has flown into space three times (1995, 2001, 2012-13), was the only Canadian to visit the Russian space station Mir (1995), participated in the assembly of the ISS (2001), became the first Canadian to go on a spacewalk (2001), and was the first Canadian to command the ISS (2013).