HUNTSVILLE, AL - A former Huntsville resident is hoping to become part of history. He submitted an original song to NASA's Space Rock contest. The winning tune will be played during the space shuttle's final flight in April, and will be the first song the astronauts hear when they wake up in space.
NASA’s "wake-up song" has been a part of the space program since the Apollo missions, and for the first time, the public will have the opportunity to vote for one top 40 song and one original song. Roughly 1,300 original songs were submitted.
WAAY31 spoke with musician and former Huntsville resident Kurt Lanham who hopes to forever be associated with that last shuttle mission into space.
Lanham has played acoustic guitar at Alabama restaurants and bars for decades. He saw NASA's Space Rock contest as a chance he just couldn't pass up. Lanham explains, “Somebody told me it would be the final mission, so I figured to be part of that in any way, whether it's just a song, or anything like that, is nice because it's not an opportunity you would normally get.”
The song he entered in the competition is called "Just Another Day in Space." He posted the tune on YouTube, along with video he shot of Huntsville's Space and Rocket Center.
He says, “My idea was, ‘What would I want to hear if I was on the space station? How would I want to wake up in the morning?’ I prefer acoustic music, but I like it to be upbeat and happy, and something I could hear a number of times and not get too tired of it, say, the first week."
He hopes his light-hearted lyrics will provide a positive boost of energy for the astronauts as they carry out their mission: “One of the lines in there is 'all my friends from home are watching me.’ It's just a very loose, fun, silly type of approach. I didn't want to take anything too seriously—I think what they do is serious enough."
And regardless of whether or not his song blasts off into space with Endeavor, Lanham says, for him, having written the song is mission accomplished. He explains, “Just on a personal level, I feel I accomplished what I wanted to do, which was just write a song that I thought would be something they might enjoy, and if it gets to that level that would be great, if it doesn't, I feel there's nothing else I could have done."
NASA’s Space Rock committee will select the finalists by Monday, February 14th. Voting will open to the public three weeks before the final shuttle launch in April.
