How many times have you ever wished that you could travel in the heavens, beyond the clouds and the blue of the sky to where it turns into the darkness and the stars and planets are all there, just waiting to be seen and admired? There are many who have longed for that dream, but only a select few special individuals who have spent their lives preparing have met the qualifications that NASA looks for in their astronauts to make this wish come true. While the idea of spending some time in outer space may seem like a dream come true, the fact is that this is a much different environment and there are certain preparations that must be made in order acclimate to these conditions.
Given the acclamations that astronauts have to make in preparation for their time of living in space it’s really not a surprise to learn that even the standard way of waking up has to be modified. The act itself really isn’t a new way of being awoke, music playing, but the act itself has become something of a novelty for NASA and has even found its way into the history of the space program. This tradition dates back all the way to the Apollo missions.
You might ask the reason for the wake up calls; there are actually a couple of reasons for this tradition. One good reason for the wake up call is because of the constant darkness of space; a wakeup call helps differentiate between the day and the night, with helps keep the astronauts internal clocks on the same schedule. By keeping their internal clocks on the same schedule, astronauts have fewer issues, such as jet lag, to deal with when they return from their missions. Another reason for the wake up calls is to bring a touch of home and a human connection between the technicians back at NASA and the astronauts in the shuttle. These missions are of a highly technical nature and these traditional wake up calls help add something of a human element, something that anyone millions of miles in space can definitely use.
NASA Mission Control Center in the good old black and white days...
Did you know that NASA has in fact woken up the astronauts with music transmitted into space for decades now?
The tradition of the wake up calls began with the Apollo missions as the astronauts were often serenaded by the technicians back at NASA, usually to whatever music may have seemed appropriate at the time. While the idea of a wake up call was something necessary in order to keep the internal clocks of the astronauts on schedule, the choice to do so in a creative way was something a spur of the moment choice because of the serenading from NASA technicians during the Apollo missions during a routine call, more than likely just as a way to break the monotony. Isn’t it amazing sometime to realize that some traditions are often started as simple ideas to alleviate boredom?
The History Department at NASA has recently released a chronology of wake up calls that date back to the Apollo Space Program. The music was broadcast from Houston’s Mission Control Center to the flight crew and was played through an intercom.
According to the NASA website:
Usually picked by flight controllers or by crew members’ friends and family members, most wakeup calls are musical, but sometimes include dialog from movies or TV shows. The playlist is eclectic, ranging from rock, country, classical, bluegrass and jazz, to children’s choruses and songs from the countries of international crew members. The recording is usually followed by a call from the CAPCOM in Mission Control, wishing the crew a good morning.
The first documented wake up call was to the Apollo 10.
Apollo Mission Seal
On May 21, 1969, the crew was awakened by crooner Robert Goulet singing “On a Clear Day.” Apollo 10’s mission lasted from May 18-26, 1969 and each day the crew was awakened with a song. Some of the other wake up calls were: “The Best is Yet To Come, by Tony Bennett and “It’s Nice To Go Trav’ling” by Frank Sinatra. It appears that the Mission Control Center and the Apollo crew had a little fun with one another. The Apollo crew had the ability to transmit back to Houston and the crew piped in a tune to Mission control. On the morning of 5/25/69, Apollo 10 transmitted the song “Come Fly With Me” by Frank Sinatra to Houston’s Mission Control. In response, Mission Control sent their scheduled song “Zippity Do Da” which was from a Disney Movie called “Song of the South,” performed by James Baskett. Mission Control followed this with “Bugle Call for Reville” which is chiefly used to wake up military personnel at sunrise. This might have indicated that Houston was sending a message to the crew to get back to work and stop playing around with the tunes. That is just an assumption, though it does provoke a smile when thinking about the interactions between the Apollo 10 crew and the almost always stoic Mission Control in Houston. I remember those guys in the old NASA Mission Control film footage.They had crew cuts and skinny ties. They hardly ever smiled, though everyone thought they were great because their jobs were to help bring our astronauts home safely, and of course, they were the people on the cutting edge of technology of their time.
The Apollo 11 crew is missing from the chronology because they were awakened by news and sports each day of their mission. This was the crew that first walked on the moon on July, 16, 1969. Apollo 12 was awakened by “Bugle and Boatswains Pipe” on 11/16/1969. Mission Control sent the crew military trumpet calls such as “First Call to Formation” and a whistle signal that was historically used on naval ships to signal orders to the crew known as a Boatswains Pipe. Apollo 13 launched in April, 1970 is the crew that made the phrase “Houston, we have a problem” famous. This crew had many technical difficulties and they weren’t receiving the transmission of songs during this mission. Later, a major motion picture was made about this mission, starring Tom Hanks.
Apollo 14 had no wake up calls transmitted. Apollo 15 was awakened on 8/2/71 with “Tijuana Taxi” by Tijuana Brass. Two days later on 8/4/71, they were awakened by “2001 A Space Odyssey.” This tune was chosen and broadcast by Karl Heinze in Mission Control. Dr. Heinze was a noted astronomer. I guess that tune was fitting for him.
On 8/6/71, Apollo 15 was awakened by, “Anchors Aweigh” in honor of crew pilot James Irwin. Not surprisingly, James attended the Naval Academy prior to becoming an astronaut. On 8/7/71 it was splashdown day for Apollo 15 and what would’ve been more fitting for splashing down in the Pacific Ocean than the “Hawaiian War Chant” by Kealoha Perry? This was the song broadcast on that morning.
Apollo 16 is also missing from the chronology, however on Apollo 17’s mission, 13 wake up calls were broadcast and chosen by Mission Control. The Apollo 17 ship was named “America.” This brings me to the most notable tune broadcast to Apollo 17. The song was “City of New Orleans” by John Denver. It’s notable because the first line in the song was “Good Morning America; how are you?” That one made me smile. These guys at Mission Control were serious, but it’s nice to know they had a sense of play about them.
Skylab
The Skylab Years
Skylab was an American Space Station containing a manned workshop, a solar observatory and many other systems that was launched initially unmanned, via Saturn V rocket in May, 1973. Its purpose was to serve as a laboratory in space until February, 1974. There were subsequently three manned missions to Skylab. Here are some of their wake up songs:
Skylab 2
- 6/21/73 “Boatswains Call” followed by “Lonely Bull” by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
Skylab 3
- 8/21/73 “Girl From Ipanema” and “Anchors Aweigh”
- 8/22/73 “The Party’s Over” by Julie London
- 8/23/73 “Army Air Corps Song”
- 8/24/73 “Come Fly With Me” by Frank Sinatra
- 825/73 Additional selections from Julie London and Tijuana Brass
- 8/27/73 “My Skylab Home” written and performed by Chuck Morley of Cocoa Beach, Florida, courtesy of WRMF Radio.
- 9/15/73 “Paralyzed” by the Legendary Stardust Cowboy
- 9/17/71 “Message from Mother Earth” (The alter-ego of Bob Crippen) followed by the instrumental, “Come Saturday Morning”
- 9/18/73 “String of Pearls” by the Glenn Miller Orchestra
- 9/19/73 “Marine Corps Hymn”
- 9/20/73 “Moonlight Becomes You” by Frank Sinatra
- 9/25/73 “Going Back to Houston” by Dean Martin
Skylab 3 and 4 repeat much of the aforementioned music with the following exceptions.
- 12/13/73 “Eli’s Coming” by Three Dog Night
- 12/14/73 “Blue Tail Fly” by Burl Ives
- 12/23/73 “The Little Drummer Boy
- 12/24/73 “The Twelve Days of Christmas” and “The Little Drummer Boy”
- 12/25/73 “Ring Christmas Bells”
- 12/29/73 “Joy To The World” by Three Dog Night
- 12/30/73 “On Top of The World” by The Carpenters
- 12/31 “Come Back My Love” by Brigitte Bardot
- 1/1/74 “Auld Lang Syne” by Guy Lombardo
- 1/3/74 Peter Paul and Mary Medley
- 1/4/74 Chet Atkins Medley
- 1/5/74 “Strawberry Roan” and “El Paso” by Marty Robbins
- 1/13/74 “Light My Fire” by the Letterman Brothers
- 1/14/74 Neil Diamond Vocal (unspecified)
- 1/15/74 “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” Roberta Flack
- 1/16/74 “Spiders and Snakes” Jim Stafford
- 1/23/74 “Happy Birthday” “For He’s A Jolly Good Fellow”
- 1/24/74 “Misty” by Johnny Mathis
- 1/26/74 “In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning” by Julie London
- 1/27/74 “El Manicero” Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
- 1/28/74 A medley of soft music (unspecified)
1/29/74 “If” by Bread and “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” by Cher - 1/30/74 “Ghost Riders in the Sky” by Johnny Cash
- 1/31/74 “Burning Love” by Elvis Presley
- 2/3/74 “Walk Through The Black Forrest” by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass
- 2/4/74 “Rachmaninoff Concerto No. 3”
- 2/5/74 “Out in the Country” by Three Dog Night and “I Feel The Earth Move” by Carole King
- 2/6/74 “Soul of Spain” by 101 Strings
- 2/7/74 “Carmen” by Bizet and “Shaft” by Isaac Hayes
- 2/8/74 “Going Back To Houston” by Dean Martin
Apollo Soyuz Test Project, July 15-25, 1975: The First Joint US/Soviet Space Flight
- 7/16/75 “Good Morning Sunshine” by Chicago (Apollo Crew)
- 7/18/75 “Midnight in Moscow” (Apollo Crew)
- 7/19/75 “Tenderness” by Mya Krystalinskaya (Apollo Crew) The crew did not hear this because they woke up later in the day.
- 7/20/75 “Tenderness” by Mya Krystalinskaya (Apollo Crew)
- 7/20/75 “Redneck Mother” by Jerry Jeff Walker (Apollo Crew)
The Space Shuttle in all its glory...
The Shuttle Missions
STS-1- April 12-14, 1981
- 4/13/81 “Blast Off Columbia” Roy McCall
- 4/15/81 Short excerpt from an old Spike Jones record followed by Houston DJ Comedy Routine , then “Reveille.”
STS-2-November 12-14, 1981
- 11/13/81 “Pigs in Space Comedy Routine” #1, by The Muppets
- 11/14/81 “Pigs in Space Comedy Routine” #2, by The Muppets, preceded by “Columbia, Gem OF The Ocean” by Flight Operations Directorate Group “Contraband”
STS-3-March 22-30, 1982
- 3/23/82 “On The Road Again” by Willie Nelson
- 3.24/82 “Marine Corps Hymn”
- 3/25/82 “Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder” (The Air Force Song)
- 3/26/82 “Sail Away” by Christopher Cross (while over Madrid) Was this a reference to Christopher Columbus?
- 3/27/82 “I’m Sitting On Top Of The World” the flight crew then transmitted back to the flight control team: “Those Magnificent Men And Their Flying Machines”
- 3/28/82 “Six Days On The Road and I’m Gonna Make It Home Tonight” by Dave Dudley (NASA stretched the lyrics and made it eight days instead of six.
- 3/29/82 “This is My Country” The flight crew then responded with the Air Force Song and the Marine Corps Hymn.
STS-4-June 27-July 4, 1982
- 6/28/82 “Up and Away”
- 6/29/82 “Hold That Tiger” by the Auburn University Band (Two of the Astronauts were Auburn University graduates.)
- 7/2/82 “Theme from Chariots of Fire”
- 7/3/82 (College Fraternity Songs)
- 7/4/82 “This is My Country”
STS-5-November 11-16-1982
- 11/12/82 “76 Trombones” from “The Music Man”
- 11/13/82 “Cotton-eyed Joe”
- 11/14/82 “Marine Hymn”
- 11/15/82 “The Stroll”
- 11/16/82 “Take Me Home Country Roads” by John Denver
STS-6-April 4-9, 1983
- 4/5/83/ “Cadets on Parade” and “Off We Go Into The Wild Blue Yonder” by the United States Air Force Academy Band
- 4/6/83 “Teach Me Tiger” by April Stevens
- 4/7/83 “Theme From F Troop” (NASA identified this crew as the F crew, so the song was in honor of them)
- 4/8/83 “The Poor Co-pilot” (Korean War Flying Tune)
- 4/9/83 “Ode To The Lions” by Rusty Gordon (Penn State song)
STS-7-June 18-24, 1983
- 6/19/83 “University of Texas Fight Song” (played for the flight commander who was a UT graduate)
- 6/20/83 “Texas A&M Aggie War Hymn” followed by “Tufts Tonya Day” (another alumni song for one of the crew members)
- 6/21/83 “Texas Aggie War Hymn” followed by “Reville” and then followed by “When You’re Smiling”
- 6/22/83 “Texas A&M Aggie War Hymn” followed by “Washington University Cougar Fight Song” (another alumni song for a crew member)
- 6/23/83 “Texas A&M Aggie War Hymn” followed by “The Stanford Hymn” (Dr. Sally Ride was a graduate of Stanford and it was played for her) followed by “A Hard Day’s Night” by the Beatles
- 6/24/83 ”Texas A&M Aggie War Hymn” followed by “Florida State University Fight Song” played by the FSU Marching Chiefs (crew member was an graduate of FSU)
Wake up, astronaut dudes!
This is all the room we have for the chronology in this OnlineClock.net Blog post. I’m sure you get the idea. 
The music reflected our times. Later you can see the competitive nature of the Shuttle years.
The wake up songs continued until July 21, 2011 when he last NASA space shuttle song was Kate Smith singing Irving Berlin’s “God Bless America”.
A full list of the final space shuttle wake up songs can be found here.
NASA wake up songs may return for future reasons, or they may remain permanently retired (we hope that won’t be the case!).
Wake Up Calls From NASA is a post from: Alarm Clock Blog, the official blog of the original Online Alarm Clock.
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