Tweets from number one microblogging site Twitter could reach outer space. This was proven by tweet exchanges between American actor William Shatner, who portrayed Captain Kirk in Star Trek, and Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

The actor sought confirmation from Mr Hadfield if he was sending tweets from the International Space Station (ISS), to which the astronaut replied: "Yes. Standard Orbit, Captain. And we're detecting signs of life on the surface," BBC quoted the Canadian astronaut.

Mr Hadfield and two other astronauts, Roman Romanenko and Thomas Mashburn, arrived at ISS on Dec 21 for a five-month mission. Here is the video of their launch.

Besides tweeting with Mr Shatner, Mr Hadfield had been tweeting images of Earth, including photos of snow-covered rice fields in Japan and Italy's coast. His tweet exchanges with the actor were arranged by the Canadian Space Agency.

Mr Shatner was joined in the tweets by other Star Trek actors such as George Takei who played Sulu, Leonard Nimoy who is known as Spock and Wit Wheaton, a star from the successor series Star Trek: The Next Generation.

"If you get into trouble with Nanites while you're in orbit, I know a guy who can help you contain them. He has experience," tweeted Mr Wheaton who .portrayed the character Wesley Crusher.

Mr Hadfield replied, which indicated he was a follower of the Star Trek series, "Wesley, we've talked about you being on the bridge. I believe you're needed in Engineering."

American astronaut Buzz Aldrin, one of the three astronauts who landed on the Moon in 1969, lamented the lack of the social networking site back then to communicate with Earth about their moon walk.

An Australian also tweeted a message to Mr Hadfield. Julie M, a Twitter used, told the Canadian astronaut that she and her family are watching the ISS fly over Queensland. "Hope you saw us waving ;)," she tweeted.

He replied, "Was that you waving? Thanks! I wave back to the whole family. Australia's space contours and textures are beautifully unmistakable."

However, Mr Hadfield, the flight engineer of Expedition 34 and soon to be commandor of Expedition 35, stressed that tweeting is not the main aim of his role in the ISS, but crew health, vehicle health, work and science and personal pursuits including taking photos and playing the guitar in his free time.

For those not so familiar with Mr Shatner and Star Trek, here's a look back at the popular sci-fi series, featuring some of their bloopers.

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