Chris Hadfield, an astronaut currently serving aboard the International Space Station (ISS) who frequently tweets about and posts photos of the breathtaking views as the station orbits Earth, was the first Canadian to walk in space. So, it’s not surprising that fellow Canadian William Shatner, an actor best known for his role as Captain James T. Kirk of the starship Enterprise on Star Trek, would follow Hadfield’s activities on Twitter and maybe even send the real-life spaceman a message.

Earlier this month, Shatner asked Hadfield via Twitter if the astronaut was currently tweeting from space. Hadfield both surprised and delighted all who were observing when he responded using Star Trek lingo and addressed Shatner as “Captain” [squeeee!!!!!].

The photo above, which shows Shatner holding a likeness of Hadfield, was tweeted by Hadfield soon after his awesome Twitter exchanged with Shatner, and is an entry from the CSA’s Chris Hadfield World Tour Photo Challenge.

On December 19, 2012, Hadfield launched aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station, where he will live and work til mid-May as part of the crew of Expedition 34/35. He’s currently Flight Engineer on Expedition 34 and will become Commander of Expedition 35 in March, marking the first time a Canadian astronaut will be in command of the station. If you’re not following him on Twitter [@Cmdr_Hadfield], you’re really missing out. He’s quickly become the rock star of all astronauts.

Below is the embed of the Twitter correspondence from January 3, 2013.

@williamshatner Yes, Standard Orbit, Captain. And we’re detecting signs of life on the surface.

— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) January 3, 2013

[Source: Chris Hadfield]