Tourism Ireland is harnessing star power to fuel its latest marketing campaign by recruiting famed Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield to front a series of online videos.

The spaceman – who became a YouTube sensation last year after recording David Bowie's Space Oddity at the International Space Station – has starred in a series of four short films where he visits some of Ireland’s top attractions to encourage viewers to take one small step for man and follow in his footsteps.

The resulting videos are called ‘An Astronaut’s Guide to the Island of Ireland’ and will be promoted around the globe by Tourism Ireland.

The first film features Donegal and the spectacular scenery of the Inishowen Peninsula, starting point of the Wild Atlantic Way.

The other three films, which launched on 26 March, feature the popular attractions of Titanic Belfast and the Guinness Storehouse, as well as footage of Chris learning to play hurling at the GAA clubs of Na Fianna in Dublin and Cushendall in Co Antrim.

“Chris Hadfield is one of the few people on earth who has seen Ireland from space, and on the ground,” said Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Leo Varadkar.

“These are four great films which I’m certain will persuade people from around the world to pay their own visit to Ireland.”

All four films, and the accompanying feature articles, will be promoted on Tourism Ireland’s website, Ireland.com, as well as shared across Facebook, Twitter and the organisation’s YouTube channel.

Both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland are hoping to build on the estimated eight million overseas tourists who visited the Emerald Isle in 2013. The latter recently recruited Co Antrim-born Hollywood star Liam Neeson to be the voice of its own tourism campaign.