Vancouver link to Hadfield's space guitar

A Vancouver company says it will re-start production of a guitar used by Chris Hadfield in space, prompting dozens of new orders.

The Canadian astronaut gained worldwide attention when he performed David Bowie's Space Oddity while playing a Vancouver-made Larrivee guitar, in a farewell to the International Space Station.

• Chris Hadfield safely returns to Earth

"I don't think very many other people have their guitars in space, so it's pretty cool," said Edwin Bond, production manager at the Larrivee factory in Vancouver, where the guitar was made.

Bond says NASA bought the guitar for the space station some years ago because of its compact size.

"Basically NASA explained their needs about wanting a small guitar [to a U.S. guitar centre that] brought our Parlor to their attention because it's an excellent example of a small Parlor guitar," said Bond.

Larrivee had stopped making that model, but now plans to bring it back into production.

Since announcing a limited run of replicas last week, the company has already taken orders worth $100,000, Bond said.

Hadfieldwho has more than 800,000 Twitterfollowers is credited with sparking renewed interest in space among Canadians and people all over the world.

• How Chris Hadfield turned earthlings on to space

Even the H.R. MacMillan Space Centre in Vancouver has seen a jump in attendance as a result of Hadfield's five-month mission.