As NASA’s Artemis II mission reaches the final stages of its lunar expedition, the US agency have revealed the list of songs that the crew wake up to in the mornings. The playlist curated by the astronauts themselves features famous hits like Queen and David Bowie’s ‘Under Pressure’ and Chappell Roan’s ‘Pink Pony Club’.
Artemis II launched successfully on the 1st of April, embarking on a test run to take new images of the lunar surface and lay the foundations for future moon landings. The Orion spacecraft ‘Integrity’ has travelled around the moon, taking humanity the furthest from Earth they’ve ever been, and is due to return to Earth tomorrow, the 10th of April. The milestone flight marks NASA’s first crewed mission outside low Earth orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972.
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The mission has been a huge cultural event across all media platforms, from the spectacle of the launch in Florida last week, to the fascinating new photographs of the far side of the moon. At the heart of the project has been the four-person crew, a diverse set of astronauts each defying convention. Commander Reid Wiseman, pilot Victor Glover, mission specialist Christina Koch and specialist Jeremy Hansen have each endeared themselves to a global audience over the last week and a half, through emotional moments and their sheer wonderment at life in space.
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Yesterday NASA revealed the astronauts’ bespoke wake-up playlist, a collection used to rouse them each morning in outer space. In a post on Instagram, the organisation said “Each track was selected by the Moon crew, continuing a tradition that started more than 50 years ago. Stay tuned to find out which songs they’ll choose next.” For yesterday’s selection, the crew started the day with Queen and David Bowie’s 1981 collaborative masterpiece ‘Under Pressure’. The single was the second UK Number One for Queen and third for Bowie, whose lifelong fascination with space saw him create alien alter-ego Ziggy Stardust and write numerous songs themed around astronauts, like tracks ‘Space Oddity’, ‘Life On Mars’, and ‘Ashes To Ashes’.
Another song that has drawn attention on social media is British indie-rock group Glass Animals 2019 single with US rapper Denzel Curry, ‘Tokyo Drifting’. Glass Animals replied to NASA’s update with a simple comment reading “this is the coolest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life ever.” but it has been Curry’s ecstatic raving that has captured the spotlight. On social media site X, he has enthusiastically declared himself “The First Rapper Played in Space” and made the fantastic statement “even aliens f*ck with my sh*t!”
The playlist currently sits at 9 tracks, with NASA suggesting more may be added before the mission’s completion. Other cuts include Chappell Roan’s 2020 single ‘Pink Pony Club’ which became an international mega-hit several years after its release, the appropriately gentle track ‘Sleepyhead’ by Young & Sick, and emotive, atmospheric country tune ‘Lonely Drifter’ by Charley Crockett.
The Orion spacecraft is currently nearing the end of its journey home, and is due to splash down near San Diego tomorrow night at 8PM EDT (1AM BST). You can follow the updates from NASA and the crew of ‘Integrity’ through their official Instagram and X accounts, with plenty more photos and maybe a playlist add-on yet to come.
