Definitely the cutest addition to Irish in a long time. The Irish for 'Astronaut' is actually Spásaire and réaltach is the word for starlit/starlike/beautiful.

The game of hurling (the Clash of the Ash) that Chris was promoting is the fastest team field sport in the world and dates back over 3000 years. It was played by ancient Celtic warriors and has been picked up in recent years by units of the US military. Some describe it as Hockey + Murder, or Athletic Manslaughter! Here is a link to how it should be played.

For those of you in the USA, you may find it a bit strange that an astronaut tweeting from space makes the news. However, just for some reason, when the whole country got the opportunity to view our island nation from the orbital perspective, suddenly, everyone knew who Chris Hadfield was. I thought this was pretty cool!

His "Ta Eire fioralainn" tweet was front page news over here.

When he landed back on Earth, it wasn't long before he visited Ireland. His daughter studies in Dublin, so he has a very slight link to Ireland.

During his first book signing in Easons, and I'm telling not exaggerating this one, he sold out every copy of "An Astronaut's Guide to Life of Earth" in IRELAND. Yes that's right, every single copy of his book in the country sold out, leaving many thousands of people who queued in line to get a signed copy disappointed. I didn't get the chance to meet him, but I do have a signed copy due to the kindness of a few of my friends who met him.

During his visit he was on the Late Late Show, the longest running chat show in the world, and he was interviewed and sang a few songs. Here's a video of him singing "Space Oddity."

Hadfield was singing on radio stations and there was just a buzz about everyone when the topic of space or astronomy came up. Now, everyone in Ireland knows who Chris Hadfield is, and hopefully might help get people interested in the subject.

I only stumbled across these videos when he posted them on Twitter, but I had heard that he was going to do something like this for quite some time. It really is a great marketing ploy and I hope it encourages some much needed tourism in the most beautiful part of the country.

If it's good enough for a guy who's been around the world a few thousand times, then I guess it's good enough for me!!

I hope you all enjoyed it!

The Reserve received it's official Gold Standard status from the International Dark Sky Association in 2014. This is the first Gold Tier reserve in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Kerry International Dark-Sky Reserve covers an area of approximately 700km sq that includes most of the Iveragh Peninsula taking in Cahersiveen, Valentia Island, Waterville, Portmagee, Caherdaniel and Ballinskelligs in the South-West of Ireland.

Only two other places in the world, in Namibia and New Zealand, have received such a designation for their pristine skies.