Space Music: NASA Mission with a side of Aphex Twin

By Robert Lamb

If all goes as planned, the Discovery will blast off Thursday on one of the last three space shuttle missions (STS-133) ever. Among other things, the crew will bring along Robonaut2 and two small LEGO space shuttles to kick-off an educational Lego/NASA partnership.

You of course will have to stay here on Earth, but in addition to watching live footage of the take off you can enjoy a live mix of STS-133 mission control chatter and ambient, electronic and intelligent dance music. You’re hear Mission Commander Steven W. Lindsey as he leads the crew into orbit, along with the spaced-out sounds of such artists as Robert Carty, Xeno Volcano and Aphex Twin.

All you have to do is head over to SomaFM and launch the Mission Control station. The stream is available in a number of formats as well as via a rather cool iPhone app. Mission Control regularly features live NASA chatter and when there’s not a launch going on they fall back on classic Apollo-era transmissions. It all makes for a rather cosmic chill-out session.

SomaFM is free, though the website depends on listener donations — so if you dig it, consider donating. They currently feature 20 stations, ranging from the retro lo-fi charm of Secret Agent radio to the Desi-influenced Suburbs of Goa and the IDM-heavy Clip Hop (my personal favorite).

Sources to hyperlink:

http://somafm.com/missioncontrol/

http://somafm.com/mobile/

http://somafm.com/

http://science.howstuffworks.com/robonaut.htm

http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-shuttle.htm

http://science.howstuffworks.com/international-space-station.htm

http://blogs.howstuffworks.com/tag/space-music/

Credit tags:

Buzz Aldrin drops some beats on the Apollo 11 decks. (NASA/Space Frontiers/Getty Image)