The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has launched a new campaign as its shuttle program dwindles down – the agency is asking for users to submit suggestions for music that will be officially used as the wakeup song for members of the shuttle crew.
NASA is encouraging anyone and everyone to suggest songs to be added to the mission’s official track list.
“We’re looking forward to hearing which songs the public wants played for us. It’s going to be a difficult choice, because there have been so many great songs played over the years,” said STS-133 mission commander Steve Lindsey.
Users will be able to select music that will be used as the wakeup songs for November 1’s STS-133 mission, as well as the launch music on STS-134 in February, which will be the very last mission for the Discovery shuttle. For the latter, NASA wants musicians to create their own original tunes to mark the end of an era.
It is just the latest in a long-running trend from NASA to get the public more involved in its day-to-day operations. Earlier this summer it announced a program called “Face in Space,” which will let some lucky American get his or her picture embedded in the International Space Station. And of course, who could forget when Stephen Colbert’s “ballot stuffing” campaign to get a space station named after him. Since then, NASA has refrained from letting users vote for anything that affects its official operations.
In the latest campaigns, users only have the ability to submit an entry for consideration. All final decisions will be left up to NASA. For the STS-134, music submissions must have a space theme to be considered. That mission’s commander, Mark Kelly, is excited to hear what people suggest.
“Space shuttle crews really enjoy the morning wake-up music. While we don’t have the best quality speaker in the space shuttle, it will be interesting to hear what the public comes up with. We are looking forward to it,” said Kelly.
