Astronaut touches down at Mansion House

THE former Commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield and his wife Helene, were welcomed to Dublin by the Lord Mayor, Oisín Quinn, last week.

The Lord Mayor rolled out the red carpet for the famous space man and his wife as part of their current visit to the capital.

Last year, Commander Hadfield was presented with a Lord Mayor’s Award for his contribution to the city and its citizens during his five-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

The astronaut shared Twitter photos he had taken of Ireland from his vantage point aboard the space lab to almost one million followers and was the first person to tweet as Gaeilge from space.

Hadfield was also the keynote speaker at the first ever

‘Business and Self Empowerment Summit’ last week in Dublin.

“It gives me great pleasure to welcome Chris and Helene Hadfield to the Mansion House,

? the Lord Mayor said.

“While aboard the International Space Station Commander Hadfield reached out to the world and brought us closer to his experiences in space through his use of social media.

“Dubliners will always be grateful for those unique images of Dublin tweeted by him from the International Space Station.

?

Cllr Naoise Ã? Muíre, who presented Commander Hadfield’s daughter Kirsten with his award last May, was also present to greet the retired astronaut.

Tourism Ireland is hoping the famous Canadian will help put Ireland back on the map again as a top destination for holidays in 2014 and beyond.

The organisation has enlisted his help to showcase some of the top visitor attractions and experiences during his stay.

As well as attending the Laya Healthcare Pendulum Summit and the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition, he and his wife Helene will spend several days as tourists visiting places like Croke Park and the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin

Tourism Ireland is creating three short films of Hadfield’s five-day visit that will feature different themes like Gaelic games, spectacular scenery and major visitor attractions.

These films will then be shared by Tourism Ireland with its almost two million Facebook fans and over 100,000 Twitter followers around the world.

Hadfield has also been tweeting about what he sees and experiences during his time here, inspiring his more than one million followers to begin planning their own holiday to Ireland this year.