Credit: Far Out / Rachel Coyne
Playing music in space is probably far more significant than we realise. After all, aside from being a trusty tool for the well-being and spirit of astronauts who do the jobs most of us never could, it’s also a pretty powerful bridge to culture, keeping the main humanistic element of the entire concept very much alive.
The history of music in space is a tricky one. Mainly because different types of music have been played for different reasons across different missions, from patriotism and scientific reasons to cultural and community reasons. That said, it says a lot that the first known incident of music playing in space came from a place of complete silliness, which says more about humanity than perhaps playing the national anthem or any other space-relevant tune ever could.
This happened in 1965 when Gemini 6A astronauts Wally Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford, in good spirits after finishing the first meeting with two spacecraft in orbit with Gemini 7 astronauts Frank Borman and James Lovell, played ‘Jingle Bells’ after teasing NASA’s Mission Control about seeing a UFO. Joking about the UFO being piloted by Santa Claus, the pair played a harmonica and miniature sleigh bells, prompting Mission Control director Elliot See to rather amusingly respond with, “You’re too much.”
Then, in 1969, for the Apollo 11 moon landing, music tapes were carried on board as a way to keep spirits high. It was mainly Buzz Aldrin in charge of the soundtrack, and he brought with him tapes with songs by legends like Glen Campbell and Frank Sinatra (‘Fly Me To The Moon’ was rather appropriately played during this mission), as well as Barbra Streisand and Lou Rawls.
Of course, the way we perceive the concept of music in space changed completely upon the launch of the Voyager Golden Record, when two phonograph records were launched on Voyager 1 and 2 in 1977. On these records, several major names were included, from Beethoven and Bach to Louis Armstrong and Chuck Berry.
What number one hit was performed in space?
In recent times, music aboard NASA missions has remained a means of boosting spirits, used either as part of the team’s morning routine or during moments of downtime. The wake-up songs for more recent missions (like Artemis 2) have been a significant point of interest, drawing support from the general public who want to get in on the fun by listening to the same songs.
Many of these included several big songs or charting hits, including Chappell Roan’s ‘Pink Pony Club’, CeeLo Green’s ‘Working Class Heroes (Work)’, and Queen and David Bowie’s classic ‘Under Pressure’. However, the first-ever number one in space is a little trickier to trace. For instance, Bowie’s first stint was, of course, his major cultural moment with ‘Space Oddity’, released to coincide with the Space Race and Apollo 11.
Further reading: From The Vault
But the song only reached number one in the UK a few years later, when it was re-released in 1975, after initially reaching number five. The song remained forever attached to a major cultural milestone (and a hallmark of David Bowie’s broader legacy), but it didn’t make it back into space until 2013, when Expedition 35 astronaut Chris Hadfield recorded a video of the song while stationed on the ISS.
Labelled as the first music video to be recorded in space, Hadfield reinstated the cultural convergence between Bowie’s number one hit and music in space exploration, also demonstrating the constant bittersweetness between the two worlds. After all, as Major Tom experiences in the song, curiosity, ambiguity, and living on in the open-mindedness of fate are often what it’s all about.
