Ground Control To Major Bob

David Bowie was surely one of the most famous popular musicians to take a musical ride through space. His song, Space Oddity, was completely out of this world:

For here
Am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do

Perhaps you saw Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield performing this very same song from the International Space Station/Recording Studios? Who didn't?

The B52s took the cosmic thing to a whole other level. They even called one of their albums Cosmic Thing. Before Cosmic Thing , though, they wrote Planet Claire...about as spacey as things could get:

She came from Planet Claire
I knew she came from there
She drove a Plymouth Satellite
Faster than the speed of light

Planet Claire has pink air
All the trees are red
No one ever dies there
No one has a head

Some say she's from Mars
Or one of the seven stars
That shine after 3:30 in the morning
Well she isn't

She came from Planet Claire
She came from Planet Claire
She came from Planet Claire

There's no shortage of rock genre space-themed music, but was Bowie the first to ride the rocket? Not a chance. Holst wrote The Planets between 1914 and 1916. Perhaps with World War 1 raging he was looking at his options. Can't say that I blame him.

So who do you think is the latest artist to blast off into outer space? Yup, none other than our own Bobby K-ort-Guard. On Monday, Robert and three interplanetary singers took their audience on a Celestial Journey. The concert was held on Hazelton Avenue in Yorkville, a street where everything is astronomically priced. How fitting. I wasn't at the concert, so I don't even know if there was any other worldly content in the program. I'm not sure how Robert got involved in the celestial journey as he's a real down-to-Earth kind of guy. 

Speaking of down to Earth, here's a quiz for you: what was the first song broadcast from outer space back down to Earth?

Here's the answer (from wicked pedia): 

"Jingle Bells" was the first song broadcast from space, in a Christmas-themed prank by Gemini 6 astronauts Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra. While in space on December 16, 1965, they sent this report to Mission Control: "We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, probably in polar orbit... I see a command module and eight smaller modules in front. The pilot of the command module is wearing a red suit...." The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleigh bells and broadcast a rendition of "Jingle Bells."The harmonica, shown to the press upon their return, was a Hohner "Little Lady", a tiny harmonica approximately one inch long, by 3/8 of an inch wide.

Interesting, eh? It makes sense that a harmonica was the first musical instrument in space. So portable. Gup...has this got you thinking about your next harmonica performance? From PG to the ISS, what do you think? Would you like to go to outer space?

And Ian, how about you? You seem like the kind of guy who would be too scared to leave to comfort and confines of your cosy cosmopolitan condo. Am I right?

Oh, no, no, no. I'm a Rocket Man.