Updates from Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed moon mission in over 50 years, range from extraordinary to heartwarming. Now, everyone following along at home has a way to feel a little closer to the brave crew embarking on a new era of space exploration: a morning playlist.
NASA shared a link to the playlist on Spotify yesterday, noting that the selections were picked by the astronauts and continue in a long tradition of playlists.
“Artemis II Wake-Up Songs” include:
- “Sleepyhead” by Young & Sick
- “Green Light (feat. André 3000)” by John Legend and André 3000
- “In a Daydream” by Freddy Jones Band
- “Pink Pony Club” by Chappell Roan
- “Working Class Heroes (Work)” by CeeLo Green
- “Good Morning” by Mandisa and TobyMac
- “Tokyo Drifting” by Glass Animals and Denzel Curry
- “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie
Artemis II began its 10-day moon mission on April 1 with a crew including commander Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen. This mission took them further away from Earth than any manned spacecraft has gone before, reaching a maximum distance from Earth of 252,756 miles.
Colin Fries of the NASA History Division first compiled a record of NASA playlists in 2015, noting public interest in what the astronauts were listening to.
“There have always been inquiries about flown items and mission events as we all know, and those about wakeup calls and music played in space encompassed a steady stream (no pun intended)!” he wrote at the time.
Fries included a letter from NASA’s acting director in 1990, Lynn W. Heninger, to Congressman Robert H. Michel.
“Use of music to awaken astronauts on space missions dates back at least to the Apollo Program, when astronauts returning from the Moon were serenaded by their colleagues in mission control with lyrics from popular songs that seemed appropriate to the occasion,” Heninger wrote.
“The common element of all these selections is that they promote a sense of camaraderie and esprit de corps among the astronauts and ground support personnel. That, in fact, is the sole reason for having wake-up music; and it is the reason that NASA management has neither attempted to dictate its content nor allowed outside interests to influence the process.”
The Apollo 10 song list in 1969 included Tony Bennett’s “The Best Is Yet To Come” and Sinatra’s “It’s Nice to Go Trav’ling” and “Come Fly With Me.”
Several missions chose Dean Martin’s “Houston” for their last day in space, which includes the repeating lyric “Goin’ back to Houston” and conveys a sense of longing for home and comfort. So far, NASA has not revealed the last day playlist for Artemis II.
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