We seem to have developed one of those 'special relationships' with Commander Chris Hadfield, the Canadian astronaut currently orbiting the earth aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
Commander Hadfield has become the darling of Twitter since joining the ISS thanks to his amazing shots of the earth's surface as he flies over our heads, and his account has amassed over 400,000 followers.
Surprisingly, he seems to have a thing for Ireland - after posting photos like this (January 5) and this (last Thursday night), he was at it again last night.
In a nice touch, Chris also tweeted As Gaelige, which went down a storm with his Irish fans.
he wrote.
Prompting lots of love from the Twittersphere, as Ireland collectively said "right back at ya, Chris".
@Cmdr_Hadfield *Goes outside , face to sky.... shouts*... Go raibh maith agat!
— Gwen Again (@Claredaisy) February 18, 2013
Wow, I can feel the warmth of the Irish all the way up here - go raibh maith agaibh! I'll do my best to photo more cities as clouds clear.
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) February 18, 2013
And a few people even pointed their cameras his way:
Buzz lightyear, Moon, Jupiter and International Space Station, in #Mayo last night. Image Brian Wilson http://t.co/tuSF6UUz
— Irish Weather Online (@iweatheronline) February 19, 2013
So what is it with Commander Hadfield's apparent fondness of our little Atlantic island?
He may have revealed one possible reason during an AMA ('Ask Me Anything') session this week with members of the popular internet community Reddit when he let slip that his daughter is currently among us.
In response to a user's question about his family, Commander Hadfield wrote: "My family is fine - in fact my son Evan is helping support my social media, and taught me how to use Reddit.
"My other son is in China and turns 30 tomorrow (Happy Birthday Kyle!) and my daughter is in Ireland. I talked with my wife today, she's fine too - all were at launch in Kazakhstan."
So maybe that’s it…
Or maybe we're just getting ahead of ourselves - Commander Hadfield last night also went on to tweet a picture of Budapest, saying " huge hello from space to the Töröks, family of my beloved daughter-in-law".
It could be he's just compiling the most awesome family album EVER.
Oh, and we couldn't leave you without showing last night's incredible finale:
Tonight's Finale: The full moon rises over the only planet we have ever called home. pic.twitter.com/JWb4cbyc
— Chris Hadfield (@Cmdr_Hadfield) February 18, 2013
Chris Hadfield. Canadian. Astronaut. Internet legend. Friend of Erin (maybe).
We salute you.