Chris Hadfield sends New Year's wishes from space

Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield took a moment today on the International Space Station to send a New Year's greeting back to Earth in both English and French.

"It is a tremendous privilege to be one of the new guys on board the International Space Station," he said.

"I want to wish everybody a very happy new year ... 2013 really promises to be a productive one for all of us on board."

Hadfield, 53, arrived a few days before Christmas and is scheduled to stay until May. He will take over command of the station in March.

Hadfield has been in regular communication with his 37,000-plus Twitter followers (@Cmdr_Hadfield) since his voyage began.

On New Year's Eve, he posted photographs of Canada as seen from above, including some of Toronto, Quebec City, Prince Edward Island and the Rockies.

He also explained that the space station runs on Coordinated Universal Time — the same time zone as London, England. Hadfield had said he would be floating over the Indian Ocean when the clock struck midnight.

He joked that he would be celebrating with noisemakers, hats and grape juice.