Celebrity astronaut Chris Hadfield may take a trip to Ireland this summer.

A space veteran, Hadfield, 53, spent five months on the International Space Station earlier this year and attracted global attention after extensively sharing his experiences via social media.

Hadfield, who tweeted breathtaking photos of Ireland and Dublin in Gaelic from space, has been invited by Astronomy Ireland.

David Moore, Chairman of Astronomy Ireland told the Mirror they have invited Hadfield for their annual Star-B-Q event in August.

He said: "His daughter is in Trinity College studying, and we've extended an informal invite for him to come.

"We're having our Star-B-Q on August 31st. We've asked him before but obviously he was busy with his astronaut duties, but now that he's retired he might have more time to come."

Commander Hadfield retired in May, weeks after he wowed the world with a rendition of David Bowie's Space Oddity from the space station.

This week Hadfield announced he will release "An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth" in October.

The book will be published by Random House Canada and will offer stories, lessons and experiences from Hadfield's time in space.

"Chris has a delightful capacity to bring home the fascinating details of what it takes to be an astronaut and what it's like to live in microgravity, and then to dig deeper into all the surprising training and lessons learned that help him — and the whole astronaut corps — do the impossible as if it's another day at work," Anne Collins, publisher of the Knopf Random Canada Publishing Group, said in a statement.

Here's Chris Hadfield performing Space Oddity