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]
- ^ a b c "Tuned in: music of the Soviet space programme". sciencemuseum.org.uk. Retrieved November 4, 2016.
- ^ 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"
- ^ 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.
- ^ "Harmonica, Gemini 6". 20 March 2016. Archived from the original on 14 August 2019. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
- ^ "Everything You Need to Know About Skylab | Astronotes". Archived from the original on 2016-12-14. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
- ^ a b c "Space Station Music". NASA Science News. NASA. September 4, 2003. Archived from the original on October 26, 2011.
- ^ Davis, Lauren (12 May 2013). "Chris Hadfield sings "Space Oddity" in the first music video in space". Gawker Media. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ Knapp, Alex (13 May 2013). "Astronaut Chris Hadfield Sings David Bowie As He Departs The International Space Station". Forbes. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Brown, Molly (2015). "From 'Space Oddity' to 'Songs in a Tin Can': Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield records first album in space".
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