![\"David](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_DAVID_BOWIE_SPIDERS_MARS_LAST_MEETING_DEATH_630.jpg\")
David Bowie’s Major Tom featured in Space Oddity and Ashes to Ashes(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\nDetails of David Bowie’s famous Major Tom from Space Oddity and Ashes to Ashes have been unearthed in a treasure-trove of 90,000 objects from the late Starman singer\u2019s archive<\/p>\n
21:03, 10 Sep 2025Updated 21:24, 10 Sep 2025<\/p>\n
David Bowie’s Major Tom featured in Space Oddity and Ashes to Ashes(Image: Supplied)<\/p>\n
This is Ground Control to Major Tom….just who are you exactly? David Bowie<\/a>\u2019s fictional astronaut may be part of rock folklore but we\u2019ve never known his surname….until now.<\/p>\n Amid a treasure trove of 90,000 objects from the late Starman singer\u2019s archive now housed in V&A\u2019s new East Storehouse, a handwritten synopsis for a film called Young Amercians sheds new light on his identity.<\/p>\n The two-sheets of A4 paper tell the story of \u201cBritish jet-ace…..Major Tom Brough\u201d who is involved in a ruse to fake the Moon landings. Bowie appears to reference his famous lyric in 1969\u2019s Space Oddity at one point by writing: \u201cGround Control are tense and alert as Tom descends his ladder.\u201d<\/p>\n The proposed film – which is unrelated to the 1975 album of the same name – was never made. In Space Oddity, Major Tom\u2019s doomed space exploration ends with him drifting around in space after losing control with Ground Control. Bowie sings at the end: \u201cHere am I floating \u2018round my tin can, far above the moon. Planet Earth is blue, and there\u2019s nothing I can do.\u201d<\/p>\n The character makes a reapperance in 1980 in Ashes to Ashes in which Major Tom has succumbed to drug addiction and is drifting in space. Bowie is said to have partially based the lyrics on his own experiences with drug addiction in the 1970s.<\/p>\n READ MORE: David Bowie mistaken for tour guide at Sistine Chapel – as he knew so much about Michaelangelo<\/a> In 2015, Major Tom appears for the final time in Bowie\u2019s Blackstar video<\/a>, as a corpse in an astronaut suit.The fascinating new document will be available to view by anyone when the archive becomes open to the public on September 13.<\/p>\n Items in the archive include Bowie\u2019s first ever instrument, a saxophone brought for him by his father in the early 1960s, Jim Henson-designed life-size puppets of Bowie\u2019s many personas for a music video that was never released, and one of his final Ziggy Stardust ensembles, never seen before in the UK.<\/p>\n Fans can request to look at any item in the huge archive for free. The centre has already had more than 150 requests for items related to the Ziggy Stardust period alone. \u201cThere have been many new discoveries, and we have an entire section specifically about unrealised projects of Bowie\u2019s, many of which have never been seen before,\u201d Dr Madeleine Haddon, the curator at V&A East said.<\/p>\n This includes the musician\u2019s notepad, index cards, and a series of sticky notes, used to prepare The Spectator, a musical set in 18th century London<\/a>, which was discovered in Bowie\u2019s office after his death in 2016. The musical would open with the dramatic real-life public execution of the notorious criminal, Jack Sheppard, on 16 November 1724.<\/p>\n Some of Bowie\u2019s famous looks can be discovered by fans including Bowie\u2019s 1992 Thierry Mugler wedding suit, and his outfit for his Bowie\u2019s 50th birthday concert in 1997.Also available to order is the clapperboard used for the 1976 film The Man Who Fell To Earth and Bowie\u2019s original cover designs for albums Hours and Lodger, among others.<\/p>\n Items relating to the creation of Bowie\u2019s final albums, The Next Day<\/a> and Blackstar are also available to book, including costumes, posters and props for The Next Day such as the origami birds Bowie made for his October 2013 NME cover shoot.<\/p>\n Blackstar items include Bowie\u2019s own sketches, a costume Bowie decorated by hand for the 2016 \u2018Lazurus<\/a>\u2019 music video referencing an 1975 photoshoot shot by Steve Schapiro, alongside Bowie\u2019s own artwork and awards.<\/p>\n Dr Tristram Hunt, Director of the V&A, said: \u201cOne of the greatest performers, musicians, artists and innovators of all time, David Bowie\u2019s impact continues to reverberate nearly a decade after his death \u2013 while his influence on design and visual culture and his inspiration on creatives today is unmatched. We are thrilled to care for Bowie\u2019s incredible archive, revealing new insights into his creativity and legacy, and open it up for everyone at V&A East Storehouse, in dialogue with the V&A\u2019s collection spanning 5,000 years of art, design, and performance.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_a89cff3e-35de-4f10-b36f-2ac5f4b7efc0.jpg\")
The movie synopsis featuring Major Tom<\/p>\n![\"Costume](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/0_EMB-Bowie-1973-Image-courtesy-of-the-Victoria-and-Albert-Museum.jpg\")
Costume worn by Bowie as Aladdin Sane(Image: \u00a9 Victoria and Albert Museum, London)<\/p>\n