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Music in space

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NASA astronaut Catherine Coleman plays a flute aboard the International Space Station in 2011.

Music in space is music played in or broadcast from a spacecraft in outer space.[1][failed verification] The first ever song that was performed in space was a Ukrainian song “Watching the sky...”[2](“Дивлюсь я на небо”) sang on 12 August 1962 by Pavlo Popovych, cosmonaut from Ukraine at a special request of Serhiy Korolyov, Soviet rocket engineer and spacecraft designer from Ukraine. According to the Smithsonian Institution, the first musical instruments played in outer space were an 8-note Hohner "Little Lady" harmonica and a handful of small bells carried by American astronauts Wally Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford aboard Gemini 6A.[3] Upon achieving a space rendezvous in Earth orbit with their sister ship Gemini 7 in December 1965, Schirra and Stafford played a rendition of "Jingle Bells" over the radio after jokingly claiming to have seen an unidentified flying object piloted by Santa Claus. The instruments had been smuggled on-board without NASA's knowledge, leading Mission Control director Elliot See to exclaim "You're too much" to Schirra after the song.[3] The harmonica was donated to the Smithsonian by Schirra in 1967, with his note that it "...plays quite well".[4]

In the 1970s music tape cassettes were brought to the American space station Skylab,[5] while Soviet cosmonauts Aleksandr Laveikin and Yuri Romanenko brought a guitar to the space station Mir in 1987.[1] Musical instruments must be checked for gases they may emit before being taken aboard the confined environment of a space station.[6] As of 2003, instruments that have been aboard the International Space Station include a flute, a keyboard, a guitar, a saxophone, and a didgeridoo.[6]

Music in space has been a focal point of public relation events of various human spaceflight programs.[1] NASA astronaut Carl Walz played a rendition of the Elvis Presley song "Heartbreak Hotel" aboard the ISS in 2003 which was also recorded and transmitted to Earth.[6] Canadian Space Agency astronaut Chris Hadfield, commander of Expedition 35 to the International Space Station, recorded a music video of the song "Space Oddity" by David Bowie aboard the space station. The first music video ever shot in space,[7] the video went viral and received widespread international media coverage after being posted to YouTube.[8] Bowie himself later called the cover "possibly the most poignant version of the song ever created".[9] Hadfield also recorded his own album titled Space Sessions: Songs from a Tin Can.[10]

Dongfanghong I

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See also: Dong Fang Hong I

Dongfanghong I (simplified Chinese: 东方红一号; traditional Chinese: 東方紅一號; pinyin: Dōngfānghóng Yīhào; lit. 'The East is Red 1') was the People's Republic of China's first space satellite, launched successfully on 24 April 1970 as part of the PRC's Dongfanghong space satellite program. The satellite carried a radio transmitter which broadcast the song of the same name, Dōngfānghóng or "The East Is Red"; the broadcast lasted for 20 days while in orbit.

Apollo 17

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See also: Apollo 17

A few bars of "The Fountain in the Park" were sung on the Moon by NASA Astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan on the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, the final Apollo moon mission. Schmitt started by singing "I was strolling on the Moon one day..." after which Cernan joined in. Cernan kept with the original "merry month of May", however, while Schmitt sang "December", which was the actual date at the time. Cernan interjected, "No, May!", and Schmitt corrected himself. Schmitt resumed, singing "When much to my surprise, a pair of bonny eyes..." until he could no longer remember the lyrics and began vocalizing the notes instead.[11] Moments later, Capsule Communicator Robert A. Parker cut in from Houston, punningly saying that "sorry, guys, but today may be December."[citation needed]

Voyager Golden Record

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Main article: Contents of the Voyager Golden Record
The music is recorded in the circular grooves of this disc, which was attached to the spacecraft(s)

The Voyager program probes Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 were launched by NASA with a message aboard — a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of the world of humans on Earth.[12]

This is a present from a small, distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts and our feelings. We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours.

— President Jimmy Carter

The records feature spoken greetings in fifty-nine languages,[13][14] "sounds of Earth",[15] and a 90-minute selection of music from many cultures, including Eastern and Western classics.[16]

Soyuz TM-3 and Didier Marouani

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On 22 July 1987, Soyuz TM-3 was the third crewed spaceflight to visit the Soviet space station Mir. The cosmonauts took a CD-player with them, together with two small speakers and the Space Opera album by French composer Didier Marouani. According to Marouani, the CD, the player and speakers were launched into outer space in October 1987. Cosmonaut Aleksandr Pavlovich Aleksandrov confirmed that he listened to the album during his mission on Mir. [17]

Soyuz TM-7 and Pink Floyd

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On 21 November 1988, a cassette tape of Pink Floyd's live Delicate Sound of Thunder album (minus the cassette box, for weight reasons) was taken into space by the crew of the Soviet Soyuz TM-7 mission.[18] The launch, at Baikonur Cosmodrome, was attended by the band's David Gilmour and Nick Mason, who made an audio recording of the event for potential use in a future project.[18] This was claimed by Gilmour to have been the first rock music recording in space.[18] In actuality, various cassettes carried by Al Worden on Apollo 15 nearly two decades earlier contained recordings from multiple various rock artists.[19] The tape was left on the Mir space station when the mission crew returned to Earth.[18]

Beagle 2 and Blur

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In 2003 the British space organization's Beagle 2 probe was scheduled to play a song from the British rock band Blur, upon touchdown on the planet Mars.[20] It was not known what happened to Beagle 2 for 11 years after landing, and it was considered lost. When it was found intact in 2015, however, the possibility was raised that Beagle 2 had successfully played the song on Christmas Day in 2003 upon landing, but failed to transmit back to Earth.[21] The song, also called "Beagle 2", was composed for the project and had been issued as the B-side of the band's 1999 "No Distance Left to Run" single prior to the launch.

Curiosity and will.i.am

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Main article: Reach for the Stars (will.i.am song)

American recording artist will.i.am wrote, produced, and recorded the song "Reach for the Stars"[22] (and their instrumental-driven version subtitled "Mars Edition" and "NASA Edition"[23]) in commemoration of the landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. The song was first released on August 28, 2012, and it became the first song that was successfully broadcast from another planet.[24]

Chris Hadfield's Space Sessions: Songs from a Tin Can

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During his time on the International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield recorded twelve songs. One was a recording of David Bowie's Space Oddity, ten were originals by him, and "Beyond the Terra" was written by him and his son.[25] He released the album as Space Sessions: Songs from a Tin Can in 2015.

Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster

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"Starman" prop rocks out to Bowie en route to the Asteroid belt
Main article: Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster

Elon Musk's Tesla Roadster was launched into Earth orbit, then Solar orbit, in February 2018 as part of the Falcon Heavy Test Flight. The sound system on board the car was looping David Bowie's songs "Space Oddity" and "Life on Mars?".[26][failed verification]

Project DaVinci and Taylor Swift

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Main article: 1989 (Taylor Swift album)

As a part of NASA's ElaNa 19 initiative, 18 year-old millionaire Erik Finman collaborated with a team of high school students from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and designed a CubeSat named Project DaVinci.[27][28] The CubeSat serves as a time capsule orbiting around the Earth, and contains a collection of videos, music and movies, including Taylor Swift's 2014 album, 1989. The album was uploaded to the satellite, while its Swift-autographed CD was engraved to the satellite's side.[29][30] DaVinci was launched into space on December 16, 2018, from Mahia, New Zealand.[31]

ISS and Coldplay

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Main article: Higher Power (Coldplay song)

On 7 May 2021, British rock band Coldplay premiered their new single "Higher Power" from the International Space Station by having French European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet preview the song via a branded "extraterrestrial transmission".[32] The album from which the song originates, Music of the Spheres, is a space-themed concept album.[33]

Danuri

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Main articles: Danuri and Dynamite (BTS song)

To test the experimental system of the “space Internet”, Danuri (Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter) successfully forwarded a number of photos taken, as well as several video files, including, BTS’ “Dynamite” from outer space to Earth at Korea's Ministry of Science and ICT, Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), and the Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) on 7 November 2022.[34][35]

Hakuto-R

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Hakuto-R houses a payload, that is, a music disc featuring the song ‘SORATO’ by the Japanese rock band Sakanaction. The song was initially released in 2018 as a part of the Team Hakuto campaign for the Google Lunar XPRIZE.[36]

SpaceX Polaris Dawn

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On Friday, September 13, 2024, during the Polaris Dawn mission, SpaceX Engineer Sarah Gillis performed a violin solo from Rey's Theme from Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Gillis was joined by young musicians around the world. The performance was used to raise money for El Sistema. [37]


References

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  1. ^ a b c "Tuned in: music of the Soviet space programme". sciencemuseum.org.uk. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  2. ^ Anatoly Solovyanenko. I am watching the sky and imagining a thought. Why am I not a falcon? Why can't I fly? Why, God, did you not give me wings?I would leave the earth and fly to the sky"
  3. ^ a b Edwards, Owen (2005). "The Day Two Astronauts Said They Saw a UFO Wearing a Red Suit". Smithsonian Magazine. The Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved June 23, 2017.
  4. ^ "Harmonica, Gemini 6". 20 March 2016. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
  5. ^ "Everything You Need to Know About Skylab | Astronotes". Archived from the original on 2016-12-14. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  6. ^ a b c "Space Station Music". NASA Science News. NASA. September 4, 2003. Archived from the original on October 26, 2011.
  7. ^ Davis, Lauren (12 May 2013). "Chris Hadfield sings "Space Oddity" in the first music video in space". Gawker Media. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  8. ^ Knapp, Alex (13 May 2013). "Astronaut Chris Hadfield Sings David Bowie As He Departs The International Space Station". Forbes. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
  9. ^ Andrew Griffin. "David Bowie: How Chris Hadfield's 'Space Oddity' cover from orbit was helped by the 'Starman'". The Independent. Archived from the original on 2022-06-18. Retrieved 2016-10-02.
  10. ^ Brown, Molly (2015). "From 'Space Oddity' to 'Songs in a Tin Can': Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield records first album in space".
  11. ^ Astronauts Strolling on Moon and Singing (Videotape). NASA. December 1972. Archived from the original on 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2018-05-02.
  12. ^ "Voyager – Golden Record". NASA. Retrieved September 23, 2010.
  13. ^ Sagan, Carl (1994). Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space (1st ed.). New York: Random House. ISBN 9780679438410.
  14. ^ "Traveller's Tales [Carl Sagan Tribute Series, S01E16]". YouTube. Retrieved February 10, 2012.
  15. ^ "Voyager – Spacecraft – Golden Record – Sounds of Earth". NASA. Retrieved August 17, 2008.
  16. ^ ozmarecords. "Voyager". ozmarecords. Retrieved 2018-04-12.
  17. ^ Atagong, Felix. "Pink Floyd. Still First in Space. NOT!". The Holy Church of Iggy the Inuit. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  18. ^ a b c d Miles, Barry; Andy Mabbett (1994). Pink Floyd the visual documentary. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0711941092.
  19. ^ HSA Space Exploration and Aviation Auction Catalog #6000. Heritage Capital Corporation. 1 February 2008. ISBN 9781599672274.
  20. ^ "Listen to the music that the Beagle 2 probably played on Mars in 2003 - The Verge". theverge.com. 16 January 2015. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
  21. ^ Vincent, James (16 January 2015). "Listen to the music that the Beagle 2 probably played on Mars in 2003".
  22. ^ Reach For the Stars by will.i.am, retrieved 2019-11-30
  23. ^ Reach for the Stars (Mars Edition) - Single by will.i.am, retrieved 2019-11-30
  24. ^ Karimi, Faith (August 29, 2012). "Will.i.am premieres song -- from Mars". CNN. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
  25. ^ "'Songs from a Tin Can': Chris Hadfield releasing album recorded in space". CTVNews. 2015-09-30. Retrieved 2024-03-10.
  26. ^ "SpaceX Successfully Launches the Falcon Heavy—And Elon Musk's Roadster". WIRED. Retrieved 7 February 2018.
  27. ^ Buhr, Sarah (August 17, 2017). "Teen bitcoin millionaire Erik Finman is launching Taylor Swift's '1989' into space". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  28. ^ Heiney, Anna (December 10, 2018). "ELaNa 19: DaVinci". NASA. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  29. ^ Hooper, Ben (December 14, 2016). "Idaho teen team's space-bound time capsule includes Taylor Swift album". UPI. Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  30. ^ Weinberger, Matt (August 17, 2017). "This teenage Bitcoin millionaire high school dropout is sending a signed Taylor Swift CD into space". Business Insider. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  31. ^ Mahoney, Erin (3 July 2016). "Past ElaNa CubeSat Launches". NASA. Retrieved July 5, 2020.
  32. ^ Speck, Emilee (2021-05-07). "European astronaut Thomas Pesquet premieres Coldplay's new song from space". WKMG. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  33. ^ Richardson, Mark (2021-10-18). "Coldplay's 'Music of the Spheres' Review: An Over-the-Top Cosmic Lovefest". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-10-23.
  34. ^ "The South Korean probe "Danuri" sent a music video of the BTS group". 17 November 2022.
  35. ^ 우주에서 보내온 BTS 다이너마이트 뮤직비디오ㅣ다누리 우주 인터넷 탑재체, retrieved 2022-12-18
  36. ^ "Ispace Announces Mission 1 Launch Date".
  37. ^ "Polaris Dawn Crewmember Performs from Space with Youth Musicians Around the World".

See also

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