The Canadian astronaut who delighted an Irish audience with his tweet from space as Gaeilge is to visit Dublin.

Cmdr Chris Hadfield’s proud daughter Kristin has revealed that her dad will visit her at Trinity College soon after he returns to earth.

The Irish Independent reports that Cmdr Hadfield delighted close to half-a-million Twitter followers with his historic tweets in Irish.

He also wooed an Irish audience with stunning night-time photos of Dublin twinkling from space.

Now Kristin has revealed that her father will return to Ireland when his stint orbiting the Earth aboard the International Space Station is done.

The paper reports that the 52-year-old Canadian has attracted a legion of Irish followers.
His tweets and stunning photos of major cities and landmarks from space have captured the imagination of people across the globe.

Cmdr Hadfield received more than a thousand re-tweets in half-an-hour from Gaelic speakers on Tuesday.

Now Kristin, a 26-year-old PhD student at Trinity College’s School of Psychology, says her father plans to return to Ireland after enjoying a visit to the Irish capital in 2011 when he attended GAA matches in Croke Park, attended the Dublin Film Festival and went for a hike around Glendalough in Wicklow.

Kristin told the paper: “He had a great time in Ireland. He’ll definitely be back for my graduation, but that’s a few years away, so hopefully he’ll visit before then.”

She also said she is even more proud of her father who was dubbed ‘Commander Cool’ after he received tweets from fellow astronaut Buzz Aldrin and the original cast of the hit TV series ‘Star Trek.’

Kristin added: “I loved it! It’s kind of incredible to think that he is in space, looking down at all of us here in Ireland.

“He sent me the picture before he posted it just to make sure that he had the location correct, because he once posted a picture and didn’t realise it was of Dublin.

“My Dad is a pretty inspiring person and I couldn’t be prouder of him.”

Resident in Dublin for the past two years, Kristin added that, like her father, she loves Ireland.

She said: “I wish the weather was a bit more co-operative, but otherwise it’s great.