Each day of the Artemis II mission around the moon, per NASA tradition, the Orion crew has woken up to a different song. So far that’s included everything from softer tunes such as Young & Sick’s cover of “Sleepyhead,” by Passion Pit, to CeeLo Green’s upbeat “Working Class Heroes (Work)” and the pop hit “Pink Pony Club,” by Chappell Roan. The songs were selected by “the moon crew,” according to NASA. And on Wednesday, the four Artemis II astronauts finally gave some insight into the stories behind the songs.
“My family suggested the one this morning—‘Under Pressure’ [by Queen and David Bowie]—and so that’s been my my favorite so far,” said Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen during a live conversation with Canadian prime minister Mark Carney, who had called in to the Orion spacecraft on Wednesday night.
NASA astronaut Victor Glover revealed that his wife replaced one of his songs with “Good Morning,” by Mandisa and TobyMac. “It was actually really pleasant to wake up to, and so I give her a shout-out,” he said. “That was my favorite one.” (You can follow NASA’s official Spotify playlist for the Artemis II mission here.)
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Meanwhile “Tokyo Drifting,” by Glass Animals and Denzel Curry, is a song that NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman listens to “every year” on vacations to Florida with his daughters, he said. “That one meant the most to me.”
NASA astronaut Christina Koch selected “Sleepyhead” because it played after a four-hour nap on the first day of the mission. “After being awake for—I’m not sure how long but many, many, many, many hours, I knew that we would need a little backup on that,” she said.
“The wake-up songs have been absolute perfection,” Koch said. “However, they did cut off ‘Pink Pony Club’ before the chorus,” she added, referring to the crew's all-too-short Saturday wake-up song. “I really was just singing it all day after that.”
The tradition of waking astronauts from their slumber with music dates back to at least 1965, according to a NASA report by Colin Fries, a now retired historian at the agency. The Gemini VI mission that year, for instance, included “Hello Dolly,” by Jack Jones, while Gemini VII played composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Johann Sebastian Bach, records show.
In 1969 the Apollo 10 mission astronauts were reportedly blessed by the sounds of Frank Sinatra (“It’s Nice to Go Trav’ling”) and Tony Bennett (“The Best Is Yet to Come”). On the space shuttle, which ferried astronauts to space between 1981 and 2011, crews were treated to songs that included “On the Road Again,” by Willie Nelson (in 1982), Steppenwolf's “Born to Be Wild” (1990) and “Son of a Son of a Sailor,” by Jimmy Buffett (1992). In 2005 Paul McCartney performed “English Tea” and “Good Day Sunshine” live for the International Space Station crew.
Looking to the final days of the Artemis II mission, Hansen said his “second favorite” song after “Under Pressure” will be on landing day. “I’ll let you wait to see what that one is,” he said. “It’s appropriate for the day.”
