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Kraftwerk's live shows are known for being fairly regimented affairs, but at the Jazz Open Festival in Stuttgart, the band was joined by a special guest for a performance of "Spacelab": ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst, who is currently stationed about the ISS. (SLYT)
posted by SansPoint on Jul 21, 2018 - 9 comments

After the discovery of seven Earth-like planets orbiting TRAPPIST-1 (a dwarf star 40 light years from us) in 2016 and 2017, the scientists studying the planetary system couldn't create a model of it that didn't quickly collapse until they took into account certain data about the way the system was formed. The orbital resonance of the system got others wondering what it would sound like if we could hear it. This was when "an astrophysicist, a musician, and an astrophysicist/musician decided to explore what happens when the rhythms and harmonies of astronomical systems are translated into music so they can be heard by human ears." [more inside]
posted by mandolin conspiracy on Mar 4, 2018 - 13 comments

The sound of space-filling curves. Herman Haverkort presents sonifications, or musical representations, of space-filling curves in various dimensions. (Sonification previously.)
posted by Cash4Lead on Jan 14, 2018 - 15 comments

52 years ago today, the joint NASA mission of Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 marked a milestone: the first time that two orbiting objects successfully rendezvoused with one another in space. The Gemini 6 command pilot and Mercury Seven astronaut Wally Schirra (and onboard computers) brought the capsule within 1 foot of Gemini 7 and the two spaceships stayed in close orbit for four-and-a-half hours. Shortly after their separation, they gleefully marked another milestone: the first song transmitted from space. [more inside]
posted by AgentRocket on Dec 15, 2017 - 4 comments

A Fictive Flight Above Real Mars - The anaglyph images of Mars taken by the HiRISE camera holds information about the topography of Mars surface. There are hundreds of high-resolution images of this type. This gives the opportunity to create different studies in 3D. In this film I have chosen some locations and processed the images into panning video clips. There is a feeling that you are flying above Mars looking down watching interesting locations on the planet.
posted by Wolfdog on Mar 24, 2017 - 5 comments

The Mixtape 24: Soviet Space Disco courtesy of The Calvert Journal: [October]'s mixtape is a collection of cosmic disco music from the archives of Soviet state record label Melodiya. Compiled for the launch of the exhibition Soviet Space Archive: Configuration II (on display at Calvert 22 Gallery between 10 October — 31 October 2015), it showcases the otherworldly highlights of the label’s eclectic Diskoklub series, including the swirling synths and tight brass of groups such as Zodiak from Latvia. For the exhibition opening, curators Rory McCartney and Ella McCartney will host a Soviet Space Disco. This mix captures the futuristic soundtrack to the opening event.
posted by Wolfdog on Nov 18, 2015 - 7 comments

Radio broadcasts leave Earth at the speed of light. Scroll away from Earth and hear how far the biggest hits of the past have travelled. The farther away you get, the longer the waves take to travel there—and the older the music you’ll hear.
posted by frimble on Jul 15, 2015 - 34 comments

NASA Posts a Huge Library of Space Sounds, And You're Free To Use Them - Create Digital Music
posted by Brandon Blatcher on Apr 3, 2015 - 15 comments

Line Segments Space by Kimchi and Chips
posted by Blazecock Pileon on May 19, 2014 - 2 comments

Dreams are real [YT, 3:01, cats]
posted by bobobox on Aug 23, 2013 - 12 comments

Minister Faust explains the meaning of George Clinton's Mothership
posted by Artw on May 2, 2013 - 33 comments

A NASA chronology of wakeup calls in space (PDF).
posted by avocet on Jan 26, 2013 - 8 comments

Jewel in the Night is the first song recorded on the International Space Station. Colonel Chris Hadfield's companions in space are both also musicians.
posted by bwerdmuller on Dec 24, 2012 - 11 comments

The Man who Fell to Earth was Nicholas Roeg's Sci-fi classic featuring a fragile cocaine addicted David Bowie, between his Thin White Duke days and his Berlin trilogy, as a homesick alien falling into despair. Years later Duncan Jones - AKA Zowie Bowie, subject of a sentimental song on Hunky Dory - would make a Sci-Fi film of his own with similar themes of isolation.
posted by Artw on Dec 10, 2012 - 28 comments

Flute jam aboard the International Space Station [SLYT] [more inside]
posted by inedible on Apr 3, 2011 - 42 comments

...the lyrics to that last song were basically taken from an encyclopedia written in the 50s, and since the 50s, some remarkable things have happened...

In 1959, a number of songs about science were released on an album called Space Songs. One of these was later covered by the band They Might Be Giants: Why Does The Sun Shine? (The Sun Is A Mass of Incandescent Gas). Only one problem: it isn't--the song was based on an incorrect text from 1951. So they wrote an answer song to themselves: Why Does The Sun Really Shine? (The Sun Is a Miasma of Incandescent Plasma). Bonus link: see for yourself! (previously)
posted by Upton O'Good on Sep 6, 2009 - 32 comments

Fears that malevolent aliens will tune into this week's broadcast of The Beatles' song "Across the Universe" have been voiced by scientists.
posted by monospace on Feb 7, 2008 - 66 comments

Bay Area Yuri's Night 2007 Bay Area Yuri's Night 2007 Yuri's Night Bay Area will be held at Moffett Field in the NASA Ames Research Center's massive SOFIA hangar, home to the world's largest aerial observatory. Our host for the evening is pioneering space traveler Anousheh Anasari, the first privately funded female to reach orbit. She is joined by Dr. Chris McKay, world renowned expert in astrobiology and terraformation with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames Research Center, as they welcome you to a dazzling array of interactive art installations and science demos, interwoven with musical and acrobatic performances by some of the world's finest entertainers. Complete write up. Partially via MeFi's own lannanh.
posted by loquacious on Apr 6, 2007 - 21 comments

Max Q, named after the aeronautical engineering term, is the only astronaut rock band (but not the only musical astronauts). Not to be confused with the barbershop quartet.
posted by Chinese Jet Pilot on Mar 23, 2007 - 7 comments

"dayvan cowboy" - first video ever for the boards of canada directed by melissa olson from "campfire headphase" /and/ the upcoming ep "trans canada highway" which is launched on 06/06/06. video has sequences of previously discussed space giant leap.
posted by zenzizi on Apr 13, 2006 - 39 comments

I LOVE YOU I WANNA LOVE YOU TENDER. You could be my only sweet surrender. I would never bring you any kind of sorrow. (38 Mb QT)
posted by Peter H on Jan 13, 2005 - 23 comments

Fire in the Sky.
Perhaps you saw moonwalk veteran astronaut Buzz Aldrin attempt on NBC to read a poem he received in e-mail Saturday, and falter in tears. It was actually lyrics to the Jordin Kare song "Fire in the Sky," a tribute to manned space exploration:
Prometheus, they say, brought God's fire down to man.
And we've caught it, tamed it, trained it since our history began.
Now we're going back to heaven just to look him in the eye,
and there's a thunder 'cross the land, and a fire in the sky
[via Space.com]
posted by Tubes on Feb 3, 2003 - 7 comments