--- title: Astronaut Plays Bagpipes on the International Space Station description: An astronaut played the bagpipes aboard the International Space Station this week to honor a scientist who had died canonical: https://time.com/4104158/international-space-station-bagpipe/ author: Justin Worland article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-11-08T19:20:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T12:26:20.112Z article:section: Science og:title: Watch an Astronaut Play Bagpipes on the Space Station og:description: A U.S. astronaut played the instrument in recognition of a scientist who died og:url: https://time.com/4104158/international-space-station-bagpipe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1dd0e50ccc02c53/69887016a988ca3d9c6b52fc/astronaut-plays-bagpipes-on-space-station.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Astronaut Plays Bagpipes on the Space Station og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch an Astronaut Play Bagpipes on the Space Station twitter:description: A U.S. astronaut played the instrument in recognition of a scientist who died twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1dd0e50ccc02c53/69887016a988ca3d9c6b52fc/astronaut-plays-bagpipes-on-space-station.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Watch an Astronaut Play Bagpipes Aboard the International Space Station  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 8, 2015 7:20 PM UTC  U.S. Astronaut Kjell Lindgren plays "Amazing Grace" on the International Space Station. U.S. Astronaut Kjell Lindgren plays "Amazing Grace" on the International Space Station.NASA  by [Justin Worland](https://time.com/author/justin-worland/)  ## Justin Worland Senior Correspondent Nov 8, 2015 7:20 PM UTC An astronaut played the bagpipes aboard the International Space Station this week to honor a scientist who had died. U.S. astronaut Kjell Lindgren played _Amazing Grace_ to recognize research scientist Victor Hurst who died unexpectedly in October, according to a BBC [report](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-34757254). Hurst had helped train astronauts for space travel. “He always had a quick smile, a kind word,” Lindgren told the BBC. “I don’t know if anyone was more enthusiastic and professional about being involved in human space flight.” Playing the bagpipes in space has been years in the making for Lindgren, who is now thought to be the first to play the instrument in space. He approached a Scottish manufacturer about the idea two years ago, according to the BBC. TIME is producing a series of documentary films about a yearlong mission to the International Space Station. [Watch them here](http://time.com/space). \[[BBC](http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-34757254)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4104158/international-space-station-bagpipe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4104158/international-space-station-bagpipe/"},"headline":"Watch an Astronaut Play Bagpipes Aboard the International Space Station","datePublished":"2015-11-08T19:20:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T12:26:20.112Z","description":"A U.S. astronaut played the instrument in recognition of a scientist who died","url":"https://time.com/4104158/international-space-station-bagpipe/","keywords":["A Year In Space","Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1dd0e50ccc02c53/69887016a988ca3d9c6b52fc/astronaut-plays-bagpipes-on-space-station.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd1dd0e50ccc02c53/69887016a988ca3d9c6b52fc/astronaut-plays-bagpipes-on-space-station.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Astronaut Plays Bagpipes on the Space Station","caption":"Astronaut Plays Bagpipes on the Space Station","creditText":"NASA","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/a-year-in-space/","name":"A Year In Space"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4104158/international-space-station-bagpipe/","name":"Watch an Astronaut Play Bagpipes Aboard the International Space Station"}}]}] ```