Your Votes Will Decide on ISS Wake-Up Song

March 30, 2011 — Forget about waking up to Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber. Astronauts onboard the International Space Station could wake up to Ryan McCullough, Brian Plunkett, or Susan Rose Simonetti, among others. And you get to help decide. Never heard of the artists? That’s because the NASA Space Rock Committee narrowed the list of 1,350 original songs from over 60 countries to 10 finalists whose full-time jobs vary from IT manager to student to attorney. 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 for the occasion. But this will be the first time an original song will wake up the astronauts. Public voting is open through mission launch day, which is targeted for April 19. The two songs receiving the most votes will be played during Endeavour's STS-134 mission. The choices include: “Boogie Woogie Shuttle,” by Ryan McCullough, of Savannah, Georgia “Dreams you Give,” by Brian Plunkett, of Halfway, Missouri “Endeavour, It’s a Brand New Day,” by Susan Rose Simonetti, of Cocoa Beach, Florida “I Need My Space,” by Stan Clardy, of Statesville, North Carolina “I Want to be an Astronaut,” by Michael Kunes, of Phoenix, Arizona “Just Another Day in Space,” by Kurt Lanham, of Jacksonville, Florida “Rocket Scientist,” by Tray Eppes, of Cullen, Virginia “Spacing Out,” by Jeremy Parsons, of Nashville, Tennessee “Sunrise Number 1,” by Stormy Mondays, of Oviedo, Spain “The Countdown Blues,” by Sharon Riddell, of Nashville, Tennessee To hear the songs and find out more about the artists, click here. Plunkett told CNN he wanted to be a part of the contest because his two sons are so interested in the space program. Both sons, Joseph, 13, and Loren, 10, sing vocals on Dad's contest entry, “Dreams You Give.” Finalist Sharon Riddell, a 68-year-old aspiring songwriter/singer from Nashville, said "Countdown Blues" was written after she went to Florida to watch a launch and it kept getting delayed. "My song is dedicated to all the astronauts, their families and friends and all of the support crews who have lived this song," she told CNN. NASA is hoping this song contest can be as successful as its last, when the public got to choose which Top 40 songs would be the wakeup calls on Discovery's last mission earlier this year. More than 2.5 million people voted in that contest.

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station for STS-134 will wake up to the winning music from NASA’s recent Space Rock songwriting contest. Photo credit: NASA

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