Blueshift ponders… how would you wake up the astronauts?
- By Maggie Masetti
- March 10, 2011
- 8 Comments
As you may or may not know, each “morning,” the astronauts aboard the shuttle are woken up with specially selected music. Sometimes they get the original band to play the tune, sometimes it’s a favorite song or a parody (during the last Hubble servicing mission, I have it on good authority that a parody of Hotel California written by someone on the project was used), or sometimes the public votes on it.
And sometimes, it’s…Captain Kirk?
Our question to you is this:
Blueshift ponders: What song or message would you want to send the last two shuttle crews for a wake-up call?
What are our choices?
Maggie says: Crowded House’s 1987 song, “Don’t Dream It’s Over”? I’m really sad to see the end of the shuttle program with nothing to replace it. I know we’re doing amazing things with unmanned missions, but the dream of human spaceflight dies hard for me. Hopefully we’ll have a new space vehicle before too long.
On a more fun note, how about Yakko’s Universe Song from Animaniacs?
Sara says: How can I resist suggesting “The Final Countdown,” by Europe? That keyboard riff would definitely wake up the astronauts, and the lyrics seem very appropriate – “with so many light years to go and things to be found” sums up the future of space exploration, manned or unmanned. It falls close to the bottom of this new list of space-y astronaut wakeup songs compiled by Space.com, but they agree that it’s epic.
If you wanted to stick with something classier, perhaps the old American standard “Stardust”? It was written in 1927, and has been covered many times. But here’s a lovely video of a cover by Nat King Cole with plenty of luscious Hubble imagery of… stardust, what else?
There are lists of each mission’s wake-up songs if you’re curious! Just change the number of the STS in the URL, I couldn’t find a full index of each mission.
Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls
You can also respond with your opinion on our Facebook post!
Can only be one choice for me, epic song to match this epic journey. Sigur Rós – Hoppípolla.
Mars The Planet Suite that’s the next big frontier for Man.
I realize not many people have heard this band or this song, but:
“This is Houston.
Do you read me?
Are you out there?
Do you need me?
Standard orbit,
or extended?
I will be waiting ’til this is ended”
Song lyrics don’t get much more appropriate than this as astronaut wake-up music, don’t you think? The song is “Home Fires Burning” by GrooveLily:
http://groovelily.bandcamp.com/track/home-fires-burning-bonus-track
(they tweaked the lyrics and changed the title to “Wait” in later live performances of this song).
[…] GrooveLily fan (and NASA employee) Koji Mukai recently made a comment on the NASA Blueshift site, recommending “Home Fires Burning” as a potential song for astronauts to wake up to. […]
Aowsome songs to open the morning with.. Song by Janis Joplin, Leonard Cohen, Nina Simon, Bob Dylan/ Marley. Have a perfect mornings:)
Maybe,
WHAM – Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go
“Wake me up before you go-go,
Don’t leave me hanging on like a yo-yo.
Wake me up before you go-go,
I don’t wanna miss it when you hit that high.
Wake me up before you go-go,
‘Cause I’m not planning on goin’ solo.”
I think that would cheer everyone up
Vote #2 for GrooveLily’s “Home Fires Burning”
can’t imagine if people doesn’t like music, especially those who live in space lol