NASA'S SPACE ROCK!

NASA's Space Shuttle Program is inviting the public to participate in waking up the astronauts during the last two scheduled space shuttle missions to the International Space Station. How cool is that!!

Wake up!
Use of music to awaken astronauts on space missions dates back at least to the Apollo Program, when astronauts returning from the moon were serenaded by their colleagues in mission control with lyrics from popular songs that seemed appropriate for the occasion.

Picked by flight controllers or by crewmembers' friends and family members, most wakeup calls are musical, but sometimes include dialog from movies or TV shows. The playlist is eclectic, ranging from rock, country, classical, bluegrass and jazz, to children's choruses and songs from the countries of international crewmembers.

The common element of all these selections is that they promote a sense of camaraderie and esprit de corps among the astronauts and ground support personnel. That, in fact, is the sole reason for having wakeup music; it is the reason that NASA management has neither attempted to dictate its content nor allowed outside interests to influence the process.

The wakeup song has been a part of the space program since the days of the Apollo missions, and now NASA is giving you (alongside Paul McCartney who was the first person to do that) two chances to be a part of this history.

It's even possible to put your picture on one of the two remaining space shuttle missions and launch it into orbit!

Related:
Music for Alien Civilizations

  NASA's Space Rock Contest