In 1992, Hadfield was accepted into the Canadian astronaut program by the Canadian Space Agency. He first flew in space in November 1995 as a mission specialist aboard , visiting the Russian space station "Mir". He flew again in April 2001 on , when he visited the ISS and walked in space to help install the Canadarm2. In December 2012, he flew for a third time aboard Soyuz TMA-07M to join Expedition 34 on the ISS. When this expedition ended in March 2013, he became the commander of the ISS as part of Expedition 35, responsible for a crew of five astronauts and helping to run dozens of scientific experiments dealing with the impact of low gravity on human biology. During this mission, he chronicled life on board the space station by taking pictures of the Earth and posting them on various social media platforms. He was a guest on television news and talk shows and gained popularity by playing the ISS's guitar in space. Hadfield returned to Earth in May 2013 when the mission ended. He announced his retirement shortly after returning, capping a 35-year career as a military pilot and astronaut.