Pick a Day

Music History Events: Outer Space

February 22, 2017 Longtime blink-182 frontman Tom DeLonge receives the UFO Researcher Of The Year Award at the International UFO Congress.More

February 27, 2015 Leonard Nimoy dies at age 83. The actor, best known for playing Spock on Star Trek, also made a musical impact: His albums Mr. Spock's Music From Outer Space and Two Sides of Leonard Nimoy both charted in the US (#83 and #97, respectively), and his voice was sampled in the Information Society hit "What's On Your Mind (Pure Energy)."

May 12, 2013 After the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield records the David Bowie song "Space Oddity" on board the International Space Station, his sublime rendition is posted to YouTube, quickly garnering millions of views.More

January 28, 1986 The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after liftoff, killing the seven crew members on board. The disaster inspires a lyric in the Prince song "Sign O' the Times": Silly, no? When a rocket ship explodes and everybody still wants to fly.

July 11, 1979 The space station Skylab crashes to Earth after six years in space. Leading up to the event, Electric Light Orchestra take out ads in trade magazines dedicating their new single, "Don't Bring Me Down," to Skylab.

August 20, 1977 The Voyager 2 space probe is launched, carrying with it a "Golden Record" of sounds and images representing Earth. More

May 25, 1977 George Lucas' space opera Star Wars debuts in theaters, accompanied by an instantly iconic score from John Williams. More

October 26, 1976 The Mothership, a lander that descends to the stage when the band play "Mothership Connection," appears for the first time during P-Funk's show at the Municipal Auditorium in New Orleans.More

July 6, 1972 David Bowie performs "Starman" on Top Of The Pops, causing an uproar among the conservative British audience by singing with his arm coquettishly draped around the shoulder of guitarist Mick Ronson – a move that makes him as a household name overnight.More

July 20, 1969 When the Apollo 11 spacecraft lands on the moon and Neil Armstrong takes his one giant leap for mankind, it reverberates through the world of music.More

July 11, 1969 David Bowie's "Space Oddity" single is rush-released to beat the moon landing, which happens nine days later.

March 8, 1969 "Happy Birthday" becomes the first song to be performed in outer space when the astronauts on Apollo IX sing it to celebrate the birthday of the director of NASA space operations, Christopher Kraft.

July 8, 1947 New Mexico's Roswell Daily Record reports an alien aircraft has crashed near a local ranch with the headline "RAAF Captures Flying Saucer In Roswell Region." In the coming decades, extraterrestrials and flying saucers invade several songs, including David Bowie's "Starman," Megadeth's "Hangar 18," and Radiohead's "Subterranean Homesick Alien."More

April 8, 2024 Decades after listeners synched it to The Wizard Of Oz, many skywatchers use Pink Floyd's album The Dark Side Of The Moon to soundtrack the total solar eclipse, with the last track, "Eclipse," playing as the moon blocks out the sun.

November 13, 2005 At his concert in Anaheim, California, Paul McCartney plays "Good Day Sunshine," which is beamed into space to wake up astronauts on board the International Space Station.

April 12, 1990 The Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Center in Arizona announces that four newly discovered asteroids, 4147-4150, will be named Lennon, McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr.

June 21, 1972 Billy Preston's "Outa-Space" is certified Gold.

June 20, 1969 David Bowie records "Space Oddity," which he wrote after seeing the 1968 Stanley Kubrick movie 2001: A Space Odyssey.

June 14, 2007 Chris Tomlin's cover of "Indescribable" is used as the official wake-up call for NASA astronaut Patrick Forrester while on the Space Shuttle mission STS-117.

December 22, 2006 At the beginning of their last day in space for the STS-116 mission to the International Space Station, the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery is greeted by Perry Como's "(There's No Place Like) Home For The Holidays."

April 12, 1981 Rush are guests at Kennedy Space Center to witness the first space shuttle launch, which inspires their song "Countdown."

October 23, 1979 The Police shoot the video for "Walking On The Moon" in front of a Saturn V rocket at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

December 15, 1975 Parliament release their album Mothership Connection, which takes the George Clinton-led group into their own funky universe. On the album cover, Clinton is shown emerging from a spaceship. On their subsequent tour, they introduce a much larger ship (the "Mothership") that descends to the stage when they play the title track.