Flute Duet Like no Other

Cady Coleman was one of the astronauts who helped launch Chandra aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia back in July 1999. While we have always appreciated her many talents -- chemist, Air Force officer, astronaut, and mother -- we didn’t realize that we were missing out on another: flutist.

It turns out that Cady has been playing the flute for years and is now sharing her skills with the rest of the planet. First, she gave a taste to NPR listeners in an interview in February during her current stint aboard the International Space
Station.

Then, just recently, she performed the first ever space-Earth flute duet with Jethro Tull founder Ian Anderson to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s achievement of being the first human into space (April 12, 1961). You can see a video of the performance here with Cady some 200 miles above Earth and Ian planted firmly on the ground in Russia.

We think it's safe to say that Cady is one very well-rounded individual!

-Megan Watzke, CXC