|
Author
|
Topic: Musical recordings and cassettes in space
|
Darren Russell Hayman
New Member Posts: 8
From: London
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted 01-25-2008 08:57 AM
  
A friend is writing an autobiography of Brian Eno, who recorded the soundtrack to "For All Mankind." He has heard, as have I, that many of the Apollo astronauts chose to take country and western music with them into space. Does anybody know of a list of which astronaut took what?Surely Charlie Duke was a country fan with a name like that! We all hate bad research in books, help us get this one right. |
Matt T
Member Posts: 1369
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2001
|
posted 01-25-2008 10:16 AM
With reference to the electronic side of Eno's soundtrack it would be remiss not to mention Armstrong taking an album of theremin music on Apollo 11, Dr Samuel Hoffman's "Music from the Moon". |
dom
Member Posts: 881
From:
Registered: Aug 2001
|
posted 01-25-2008 12:46 PM
I think it would truly be a "giant leap for mankind" if we decided NOT to bring Country music out into the Cosmos  |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
|
posted 01-25-2008 03:20 PM
According to Andrew Chaikin's "A Man on the Moon," Pete Conrad brought along country and western music (including Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys) on the Apollo 12 mission...while Alan Bean brought along Top 40 music, like "Sugar Sugar." |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3168
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 01-25-2008 03:26 PM
I don't have my copy to hand, but does the tie-in book to the "For All Mankind" movie (Harry Hurt) give any details? |
Darren Russell Hayman
New Member Posts: 8
From: London
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted 01-25-2008 03:56 PM
I found out some more stuff myself. And condensing information from above my list reads: - Apollo 8 Buck Owens
- Neil Armstrong took Dvoraks New World Symphony and the theremin music.
- Pete Conrad took took Frank Sinatra 'Girl From Ipanema' and Bob Wills and the Texas playboys 'San Antonio Rose' (Alan Bean and Dick Gordan hated this.)
- Alan Bean took top 40 stuff including 'Sugar Sugar' which all three would dance to in weightlessness.
- Apparently Pete Conrad campaigned heavily for some sort of entertainment on the flights.
- The crew of Apollo 13 took the theme from 2001 and 'the age of aquarius' (the lunar module was called Aquarius)
- Apollo 14 took 'How Great Thou Art'
- Apollo 15, no info
- Apollo 16 Charlie Duke loved Country Music and might be the person who gives the story some substance, he had a whole tape made of 'Grand Ol Oprey' stars. He apparently played it 'All the way to the moon'... also Merle Haggard.
- Ken mattingly took Mahler, Holsts Planets, Berlioz Symphonie Fantastique
- Whilst on the moon the Apollo 17 crew had Wagners 'Ride of the Valkyries' played to them by Mission control to wake them up.
Corrections welcome. How complete could we make this list! |
mikej
Member Posts: 483
From: Germantown, WI USA
Registered: Jan 2004
|
posted 01-25-2008 04:50 PM
I remember hearing a Conway Twitty song which he re-did in Russian for ASTP... turns out it was Hello Darlin'. |
HMS
Member Posts: 13
From:
Registered: Apr 2004
|
posted 01-27-2008 01:41 AM
I had a chance to ask Lousma about the comment in the movie Apollo 13 where his character says he's going to take his Johnny Cash albums on his flight (Apollo 18). Lousma said it was really just "creative license" by the actor who played him after Lousma told him that he liked country music. He didn't really make the comment at all. |
rjurek349
Member Posts: 1194
From: Northwest Indiana
Registered: Jan 2002
|
posted 01-27-2008 07:51 AM
I have one of Paul Weitz's flown music cassettes from Skylab. It is packed with Ann Murray and Johnny Cash. It is pretty cool to listen to Rings of Fire...knowing that Skylab was studying the Sun, and thinking of this music echoing through Skylab. |
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1277
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
|
posted 01-27-2008 11:12 AM
Here is a blog on the Apollo 10 music. |
rjurek349
Member Posts: 1194
From: Northwest Indiana
Registered: Jan 2002
|
posted 01-27-2008 11:34 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Larry McGlynn:
Here is a blog on the Apollo 10 music.
Awesome. I need to do something like that with the Skylab tape. I've put it on CD so I don't ruin the tape when I listen to it over and over. Like you said, how cool is it to know that your copy of "Fly Me to The Moon" actually DID fly to the moon? Something tells me ol' blue eyes would have loved it!!! Simply awesome. For me, it is a similar feeling listening to Rings of Fire... |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3168
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 03-02-2008 11:41 PM
Here is an interesting auction page (no idea of its accuracy) which claims to list some of the songs Al Worden took on Apollo 15. Includes at least one Country song. |
Jim
Member Posts: 73
From: San Antonio TX
Registered: Mar 2006
|
posted 03-03-2008 07:15 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Darren Russell Hayman:
Whilst on the moon the Apollo 17 crew had Wagners 'Ride of the Valkyries' played to them by Mission control to wake them up.
Also used as a wake-up call on Apollo 17 was the Steve Goodman song "City of New Orleans" (version by John Denver, I believe) because it contained the line "...Good morning America how are you?" |
Jay Chladek
Member Posts: 2272
From: Bellevue, NE, USA
Registered: Aug 2007
|
posted 03-04-2008 12:48 AM
Apollo 15 did have a recording of "Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder" which Dave Scott played on ascent in the LM after they blasted off. Reason he brought it was it was the first lunar mission flown by an all U.S. Air Force crew. |
mark plas
Member Posts: 385
From: the Netherlands
Registered: Aug 2000
|
posted 03-04-2008 05:53 AM
I can remember watching Apollo 13 and someone said when i go up on 19 i ll take my entire Johnny Cash collection. |
Darren Russell Hayman
New Member Posts: 8
From: London
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted 03-18-2008 05:09 AM
I am now writing an article about the music that has been taken into space by astronauts and unmanned satellites.I am writing for Art and Music, a new free London based magazine. We currently distribute 5000 copies quarterly around all major London art galleries and music venues. I would really like to interview some of the guys here who have acquired cassettes that were flown into space. How the music makes you feel, what makes you collect. The piece would be entirely respectful and hopefully cover a piece of Space history not often covered. Contributors will be fully credited and sent the magazine when published. The interview could take the form of a short email Q and A and wouldn't take much of anyone's time. I look forward to anyone's help. |
Darren Russell Hayman
New Member Posts: 8
From: London
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted 03-18-2008 08:07 PM
I know the Apollo astronauts took music cassettes on their flights. Does anyone have any background to the history of this decision. Was any music or entertainment allowed on board Mercury or Gemini flights? Who decided that music cassettes would be allowed on Apollo flights and why? Does anybody know what the first flight to have music on was? |
spaceman1953
Member Posts: 953
From: South Bend, IN
Registered: Apr 2002
|
posted 03-20-2008 02:47 PM
I used to record cassette tapes of popular late-1960's era music/songs about spaceflight and space off the radio and send them to various astronauts.I heard back from one or two of them, thanking me for the tapes, but I have no idea if any of MY cassettes ever made flights! |
onesmallstep
Member Posts: 1320
From: Staten Island, New York USA
Registered: Nov 2007
|
posted 04-09-2008 05:21 PM
If it can be considered a 'first', the crew of Gemini 6, Schirra/Stafford, brought along a miniature harmonica and sleigh bells to play their rendition of 'Jingle Bells' in December 1965 from orbit-the first live concert from space? |
Darren Russell Hayman
New Member Posts: 8
From: London
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted 04-25-2008 01:35 PM
On the suggest of Robert Pearlman, I emailed Walt Cunningham who told me that no music was taken on Apollo 7 making Apollo 8 the first mission to take up music cassettes with their specially recorded Buck Owens cassette.My article is nearly finished. I'll post a link here, when it s published. Thankyou everybody for your help, especially Robert and Lawrence McGlynn. |
Matt T
Member Posts: 1369
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2001
|
posted 04-25-2008 05:51 PM
I recall reading that Conrad and Cooper had music piped up to them during the latter stages of Gemini 5 to combat the boredom. Not a cassette, but it might be the earliest in-flight music on a US mission - unless anyone knows of an earlier broadcast to a crew? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 44139
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 04-25-2008 07:10 PM
Colin Fries' Chronology of Wake-up Calls, prepared for the NASA History Office, suggests that the first music played by mission control to space was during Gemini 6 ("New lyrics to 'Hello Dolly' sung by Jack Jones sent to crew").That doesn't mean that Gemini 5 didn't have music, though Fries was unable to find a reference for such. If one is known, I am sure he would be eager to amend his list. |
Matt T
Member Posts: 1369
From: Chester, Cheshire, UK
Registered: May 2001
|
posted 04-27-2008 02:25 AM
Found it, I knew it was a recent book.In The Shadow Of The Moon, page 49 - "After almost eight days in Earth orbit, Mission Control was piping music up to the crew, trying to keep them entertained." Gentlemen - name your sources  |
Darren Russell Hayman
New Member Posts: 8
From: London
Registered: Jan 2008
|
posted 04-27-2008 03:51 AM
I've gone with Hello Dolly as the first in the article but I've tried not to be absolutist about anything.I've also suggested that the bleeping oscilator of Sputnik could be considered minimalist electronica. |
micknasa
New Member Posts: 1
From: Pacific Grove, CA 93950
Registered: Jul 2006
|
posted 04-27-2008 10:09 PM
In 1957, just after the Original 7 Astronauts were chosen, Bill Dana, then a writer on the Steve Allen show, created the character of "Jose Jimenez, The Astronaut," performed it on the show and also on the Ed Sullivan show I recorded his act at "The Hungry I" in San Fran, released the album on Kapp Records and then edited the Jose bit down to an air play length and released it and after it became a hit, changed the title of his album from "Bill Dana at the Hungry I" to "Jose Jimenez The Astronaut" and then the album also became a big hit. During that time I sent 8 copies of the Jose Jimenez album to the newly chosen 7 Astronauts plus one copy for the NASA Press guy assigned to them... Shorty Powers. I never heard from them or got a receipt and forgot about it until Life Magazine, which had an exclusive deal (big price) for their personal life stories, published an article about Al Shepard after his MR-3 flight on May 5th, 1961 in which he quoted a couple of lines from the album and I realized that they must have gotten the albums I sent. Subsequently I learned that the first words said to Al on liftoff by Deke Slayton were "OK Jose, you're on your way." Bill, shortly thereafter, worked at a nightclub down to the Cape and Wally Schirra and Al Shepard began coming up on stage playing straight man for Jose. They knew the whole routine. Bill called me and told me the story and said. "we're famous." I flew down and we began hanging around and were invited to launches. When the Gemini program started and I learned they would be carrying tape recorders to record their observations/equipment status when they were out range of the ground tracking stations (long before satellite stuff), and it occurred to me that putting music on those tapes wouldn't cost NASA anything and certainly didn't increase the weight of the spacecraft, a major problem at that time. Paul Haney the PAO with Larry Johnson in the Audio Group arranged for me to get the tapes prior to launch; I loaded them and sent them back to Houston, and later the Cape, putting songs on for any crew member who had a favorite. The major record companies at that time, RCA, Columbia and Capital, all gave me copies of their master tapes so that the quality would be good and I made it clear that there would be no publicity by anyone about the source of the music and I certainly never said anything to the Press. As we got into Apollo I began doing the same thing, and in fact for Wally Schirra on Apollo 7 I also created the cue cards he held up (Keep Those Cards and Letters Coming In Folks) for the first TV broadcast from Space. For Apollo XI yes, I gave Neil Armstrong the music he took to the moon. I'm honored to have been a part of the program, have attended many launches at the VIP Viewing Site and have had meals in crew quarter with the guys just before launch, not bad for a hobby. And so in Skylab, Pete Conrad had Deke Slayton appoint me as "Expert Consultant" for Offduty Activities" (they couldn't say Entertainment for obvious reasons). During all this time I had access to the on-board tapes and had many interviews with the crew members which I recorded on my trusty Uher. My collection of 700+ reels of tape are now in the Smithsonian and were used as my source for the 6 LP album I produced for Time-Life titled "To The Moon" which was released two weeks after the safe recovery of the Apollo XI Crew. |
Philip
Member Posts: 6040
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
|
posted 04-28-2008 10:50 AM
Tapes... well by now they take DVDs I guess. Does anyone know if they're allowed to take a mp3 player in their personal kit? |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 44139
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 04-28-2008 11:00 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Philip:
Does anyone know if they're allowed to take a mp3 player in their personal kit?
Yes: Podspotting: iPods on the shuttle, station |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3168
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 04-28-2008 11:47 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Matt T:
Gentlemen - name your sources
Colin found that information in an Australian Associated Press item on Gemini V reproduced in the Sydney "Sun" newspaper of 27 August 1965, headed "Pops and Poetry in Space." The article reads, in part: "For the second day, mission control acted as a space disc-jockey service to the astronauts. But instead of yesterday's steady diet of Dixieland jazz, a tape-recorded medley filled the spacecraft. It included such tunes as 'Oklahoma,' 'Hold That Tiger,' 'I've Been Working on the Railroad,' and, perhaps ironically, 'Never on Sunday.' Later, mission control told the astronauts, 'Stand by for an important announcement.' This was followed by a recording of 'The Eyes of Texas Are Upon You.'" A report in the Sydney "Daily Telegraph" newspaper for the previous day also says that as they flew over New Orleans: "ground control greeted them with jazzy bursts of 'Muskrat Ramble' and 'Birth of the Blues.'" Gene Kranz also mentions the music in his autobiography (Al Hirt jazz, P.149), a story that was then repeated in Nancy Conrad's "Rocketman" (P.141-2). There is a Time magazine reference to it here, too, with some more details. (As an aside, and unreferenced in our book, there is an intriguing (if anecdotal) reference to music being piped up to Gemini V on P.124 of Gordo Cooper's autobiography, albeit from a rather different source...) |
robert_l
Member Posts: 171
From: Dundee,Scotland
Registered: Jul 2008
|
posted 07-23-2008 07:37 PM
During the Apollo program astronauts took music tapes to listen to, on Apollo 15 at liftoff from the Moon the astronauts played a tape, can any one give me info on what type of cassette player was used as Apollo pre-dated the Walkman? |
kyra
Member Posts: 583
From: Louisville CO US
Registered: Aug 2003
|
posted 08-04-2008 09:58 PM
If we are talking the first US mission, it seems we are uncovering this history well. However, the Soviets scored this first as well.There are two ways in which the Vostok spacecraft were playing music to the cosmonauts. - Through the onboard magnitophone recorder (similar to the onboard Gemini recorder described)
- There was an onboard AM radio - literally a car radio onboard that had a purpose of both testing radio wave propogation, but could also serve as entertainment. During a mission the Soviet towns would broadcast songs about the location they were flying over.
There was a specific reference to this in Valentina Tereshkova's journal where she references hearing Tchaikovskiy's Piano Concerto clearly. The broadcast system was used with Vostok-1, with a transmission of the song that was heard "Waves of the Amur".The source is:
Transcript of Communications between Gagarin and Flight Control, Izvestiya TsK KPSS, No. 5, 1991, pp 105-114 |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 44139
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 08-05-2008 12:03 AM
quote:
Originally posted by robert_l:
Can any one give me info on what type of cassette player was used as Apollo pre-dated the Walkman?
It was this Sony recorder, as described in the National Air and Space Museum's collection: Apollo astronauts' carried a small, battery-powered cassette voice recorder with them in the Command Module during lunar missions. The recorder was used to record information relevant to the crew log. This recorder and tapes were flown on the Apollo 12 mission and transferred to the Smithsonian in 1974. According to the oobject website, the player was Sony's TC 50 Cassette Recorder. |
Robert Pearlman
Editor Posts: 44139
From: Houston, TX
Registered: Nov 1999
|
posted 08-05-2008 12:09 AM
quote:
Originally posted by onesmallstep:
If it can be considered a 'first', the crew of Gemini 6, Schirra/Stafford, brought along a miniature harmonica and sleigh bells to play their rendition of 'Jingle Bells' in December 1965 from orbit...
Speaking of which, I recently came across (and bought) this neat contemporary replica of Schirra's harmonica: |
robert_l
Member Posts: 171
From: Dundee,Scotland
Registered: Jul 2008
|
posted 08-07-2008 05:52 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
According to the oobject website, the player was Sony's TC 50 Cassette Recorder.
Thanks! I saw this in the London science museum! Now I know which one it is, they should put this on display with the Apollo 10 command module. |
spaceman1953
Member Posts: 953
From: South Bend, IN
Registered: Apr 2002
|
posted 08-20-2008 07:50 PM
quote:
Originally posted by micknasa:
My collection of 700+ reels of tape are now in the Smithsonian and were used as my source for the 6 LP album I produced for Time-Life titled "To The Moon" which was released two weeks after the safe recovery of the Apollo XI Crew.
Welcome Aboard, Mick!The Time-Life record set was my most favorite... right from the first record! I was a paperboy back then so I always had cash, and considered my $24.95 (???) some of the best SPACE money I ever spent! Thank for the notes! |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1343
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
|
posted 08-21-2008 06:01 AM
Hello Mickey Kapp!I can confirm the story that there was music aboard Apollo 7. I was standing with Kapp and Schirra at a reunion back in the 1980's. I don't know what flight it started with, but by the time Apollo came it was a standard on board item. quote:
Originally posted by kyra:
There was a specific reference to this in Valentina Tereshkova's journal where she references hearing Tchaikovskiy's Piano Concerto clearly. The broadcast system was used with Vostok-1, with a transmission of the song that was heard "Waves of the Amur".
I remember hearing the story about Valentina Tereshkova listing to music but never knew the Vostok had such a system. How long did the transmission last? |
kyra
Member Posts: 583
From: Louisville CO US
Registered: Aug 2003
|
posted 08-21-2008 12:28 PM
With regard to the Tereshkova recording, I wish we knew for sure. If it was from the onboard recorder it could have been the entire composition. If it was from a broadcast source, this wold be highly unlikely to be better than a couple of minutes from it.This subject is an excellent one. It would be interesting to hear more regarding the "playlists" carried to space. They are truly part of the "soundtrack" of a flight. |
David Bryant
Member Posts: 986
From: Norfolk UK
Registered: Feb 2005
|
posted 08-21-2008 12:37 PM
I've always been a 'Crosby, Stills & Nash' fan, so I was pleased to discover that more than one Shuttle crew have played 'Southern Cross' in space!
|
Larry McGlynn
Member Posts: 1277
From: Boston, MA
Registered: Jul 2003
|
posted 08-21-2008 02:45 PM
quote:
Originally posted by Darren Russell Hayman:
My article is nearly finished. I'll post a link here, when its published.
Darren, whatever happened to the story that you were writing? I would love to see a copy of the article. |
astrobar1
Member Posts: 115
From: Mishawaka, IN, USA
Registered: Apr 2005
|
posted 09-02-2008 11:51 AM
I was watching "For All Mankind", one of my favorite Apollo movies, and one of the CMPs said that they liked classical music and took along a tape of Berlioz's Symphonie Fantastique to listen to while orbiting the moon. I was toying with the idea of blending that symphony with some footage of flying around the moon, and wanted to list the appropriate CMP. According to the movie credits my choices are: Michael Collins, Dick Gordon, Stu Roosa or Ken Mattingly. My Googling has not turned up any other clues. Any thoughts? |
FFrench
Member Posts: 3168
From: San Diego
Registered: Feb 2002
|
posted 09-02-2008 12:37 PM
I believe it was Mattingly... |
advertisement