"Space Oddity" is a psychedelic folk rock ballad written by David Bowie alone, recorded at Trident Studios in London in 1969 under Gus Dudgeon's production and released as a single on 11 July 1969 by Philips in the UK and Mercury in the US. Mercury pushed for release before the Apollo 11 Moon landing, and the BBC used it as background music for the coverage. The lyrics follow the astronaut Major Tom, who ignores Ground Control's warning of a malfunction and floats into space, a subject partly inspired by Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey. Primarily in C major, it features a six-bar guitar solo and a Beatles-style outro, with Paul Buckmaster's orchestral arrangement.
It debuted at number 48 on the UK Singles Chart in September 1969 and reached number five after a Top of the Pops performance, while in the US it peaked at 124 on the Billboard Hot 100. RCA reissues made it Bowie's first US hit in 1972 and first UK number one in 1975. It opened the album David Bowie, released as Space Oddity in some markets, in November 1969. Major Tom returned in "Ashes to Ashes" (1980), and Chris Hadfield's 2013 cover, filmed in space, gained wide attention.
