Hold onto your space helmets—David Bowie’s Major Tom identity just busted open after 56 years, and it’s wilder than a cosmic conspiracy!
Added on September 12, 2025 inMusic News Cards
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Ever wondered what David Bowie’s elusive Major Tom was really all about? Well, today’s the day the cosmic curtain’s finally been pulled back on this space oddity — and it’s more intriguing than a Mercury retrograde disrupting your Monday morning! First blasting off into our consciousness back in 1969, Major Tom captured our collective imagination as a lonely astronaut drifting away from Earth, a poignant symbol of isolation. Inspired by Kubrick’s celestial masterpiece 2001: A Space Odyssey, Bowie’s spacefaring alter ego seemed destined to remain a mystery orbiting the fringes of pop culture. But thanks to an astonishing cache of Bowie’s archives, including a forgotten film synopsis revealing Major Tom’s full identity as British jet-ace Major Tom Brough — involved in a fake moon landing caper no less — we’ve got a new angle to this haunting tale. It’s a revelation that feels as surreal as a Moon in Pisces daydream. Strap in, because this is one small step for Bowie fans, one giant leap for stardust seekers everywhere! LEARN MORE.
The identity of David Bowie’s Major Tom has finally been revealed.
Not to make you feel old, but the character first appeared in ‘Space Oddity’ way back in 1969.
It was thought to have been inspired by Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey, a film about an astronaut launched into space who loses contact with Earth.
In the music video, the fictional Major Tom flies to space and loses communication with mission control.
Alone in orbit, he looks back at Earth before drifting further away.
“Here am I floating ‘round my tin can, far above the moon. Planet Earth is blue, and there’s nothing I can do,” Bowie sings at the end of the track.
Major Tom ended up becoming a symbol of isolation after the character gets cut off from the world.
David Bowie’s Major Tom character first appeared in ‘Space Oddity’ in 1969 (YouTube/David Bowie)
Fans of the British singer, who passed away after a secret battle with liver cancer in 2016, will also remember the character’s return in 1980 in ‘Ashes to Ashes’. Major Tom’s last appearance was in Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ video in 2015.
Despite sending a powerful message to the world, his full identity has pretty much been a mystery – until now.
In and amongst some 90,000 objects recovered from the singer’s archive was a handwritten synopsis for a film called Young Americans, reports the Mirror.
Written on two sheets of A4 is the story of ‘British jet-ace…..Major Tom Brough’ who is involved in a fake moon landing operation.
A handwritten synopsis for a film called Young Americans was found (Victoria and Albert Museum London)
Appearing to reference his lyrics from ‘Space Oddity’, he adds: “Ground Control are tense and alert as Tom descends his ladder.”
But the proposed film, completely unrelated to the 1975 album of the same name, was never made.
“There have been many new discoveries, and we have an entire section specifically about unrealised projects of Bowie’s, many of which have never been seen before,” Dr Madeleine Haddon, the curator at V&A East, said.
A notebook, index cards, and sticky notes from when he was working on The Spectator musical set in London were also found.
There was also his 1992 Thierry Mugler wedding suit, and what wore for his 50th birthday concert in 1997.
Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the VandA, expressed: “One of the greatest performers, musicians, artists and innovators of all time, David Bowie’s impact continues to reverberate nearly a decade after his death – while his influence on design and visual culture and his inspiration on creatives today is unmatched.”
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