Early Friday morning, Tim Peake became the first British astronaut to perform a space walk, “the pinnacle of an astronaut’s career,” as Peake characterized the feat to the BBC earlier this week, after he and NASA astronaut Tim Kopra were selected to fix a faulty voltage regulator on the International Space Station.
Of course, the Internet quickly noted the uncanny timing, what with the passing earlier this week of that other beloved British starman, David Bowie. Peake himself paid tribute to David Bowie on Monday.
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Bowie has long been an important cult figure among astronauts, captured most memorably in 2013 when Canadian Chris Hadfield recorded a cover of Bowie’s “Space Oddity” from the ISS, complete with a guitar floating in zero gravity.
Watch Peake and Kopra’s six-hour space walk on NASA’s live feed below—they’re stepping through the door.