Earth Day! Astronaut Celebrates Earth from Space

Canada Arm Hadfield Earth Day 2013 — The robotic arm of the space station give the Earth a "thumbs up" according to Chris Hadfield. (Image credit: Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) / Canadian Space Agency)

Earth Day is even celebrated in space.

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield sent down some well wishes from the International Space Station today (April 22) in honor of Earth Day.

Hadfield also spoke to a group of Canadian students and journalists about how life in space has changed his view of the Earth.

"If anything my respect and my concern and my love for the Earth has only been deepened by [having this] new perspective on the planet," Hadfield said.

Chris Hadfield loves taking photos of the Earth and this one of a mountain range is no exception. Taken on April 22, 2013. (Image credit: Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) / Canadian Space Agency)

Hadfield thinks that a "vital" part of his job is to show the world what it is like to live in orbit, he said during the Canadian event.

The first Canadian commander of the station is known for beaming down beautiful pictures of the Earth from the space station's perspective as well as creating videos detailing everything from cooking on the station to cutting his nails in microgravity.

Hadfield also reflected on the significance of the Earth through Twitter later in the day.

"One quick look at our planet reminds me of the importance of Earth Day," Hadfield wrote.

NASA has scheduled its own set of Earth Day activities today. The space agency is releasing photos and hosting social media events in honor of the Earth celebration. These events are the culmination of a month-long campaign by the agency to help engage the public with Earth science from space.

Hadfield and two other residents of the International Space Station — Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko and NASA's Tom Marshburn — are scheduled to fly back to Earth in May after a six-month stint on board the orbiting outpost.

The $100 billion space station has been permanently staffed by astronauts from around the world since 2000. The station was built by five different space agencies representing 15 countries with construction beginning in 1998.

This story was provided by SPACE.com, a sister site to OurAmazingPlanet. Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter and Google+. Follow us on Twitter, Facebookand Google+. Original article on SPACE.com.

Miriam Kramer joined Space.com as a staff writer in December 2012. Since then, she has floated in weightlessness on a zero-gravity flight, felt the pull of 4-Gs in a trainer aircraft and watched rockets soar into space from Florida and Virginia. She also serves as Space.com's lead space entertainment reporter, and enjoys all aspects of space news, astronomy and commercial spaceflight. Miriam has also presented space stories during live interviews with Fox News and other TV and radio outlets. She originally hails from Knoxville, Tennessee where she and her family would take trips to dark spots on the outskirts of town to watch meteor showers every year. She loves to travel and one day hopes to see the northern lights in person.