Two Songs Will Be Selected For Play During Final Scheduled Shuttle Missions

Every day in orbit, astronauts aboard a space shuttle are awakened by a song ... sort of a long-distance clock radio originating from Houston. Traditionally, the songs played to wake up the astronauts are selected by friends and family of the crews. But for the last two scheduled missions, NASA is inviting the public to visit the "Wakeup Song Contest" website to select songs from a list of the top 40 previous wakeup calls or to submit original tunes for consideration. So, if you like music, the space program and are a little nostalgic, here's an opportunity to have a say in selecting the astronauts' wakeup music.

The two songs with the most votes from the top 40 list will be played as crew wakeup calls on the final scheduled flight of space shuttle Discovery. Discovery's STS-133 mission is targeted to launch on November 1. "We're looking forward to hearing which songs the public wants played for us," STS-133 Commander Steve Lindsey said. "It's going to be a difficult choice, because there have been so many great songs played over the years."

Space Shuttle Endeavour NASA Image

Original songs must have a space theme and be submitted to NASA by 1600 CST on January 10th, 2011. The songs will be reviewed by agency officials and the top finalists put to a public vote. The top two songs will be used to wake space shuttle Endeavour's STS-134 crew. Endeavour's mission is the last scheduled space shuttle flight. It is targeted to launch on February 26th, 2011.

"Space shuttle crews really enjoy the morning wake-up music," STS-134 Commander Mark Kelly said. "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."

FMI: https://songcontest.nasa.gov