Music News

The Singing Soviet Spacecraft

There’s a surprising amount of music in space. Both Voyager probes carry the famous Golden Record, an old-school phonograph record that features the sounds of earth for any alien species that cares to listen (providing they have a turntable, of course.)

Voyager Golden Record

When the European Space Agency sent the Beagle 2 probe to Mars in 2003, it was supposed to signal its successful landing by transmitting a song written by Blur back home.

Sadly, something went wrong and the probe was lost for years until NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spotted it in early 2015.

And speaking of Mars, the Curiosity rover actually played “Happy Birthday to You” out loud on the Martian surface when some NASA wonk figured out a way to play the tune using the rover’s soil analysis system. That was in August 2013.

But who was first in space with music? The good ol’ USSR.

In the midst of the bitter space race with the United States, the Commies wanted to pull off some kind of propaganda coup to counteract a number of failures in its Luna program. Luna 9 managed to soft-land on the Moon, a first for anyone. In the spring of 1966, the Soviets sent the Luna 10 satellite to the Moon, our satellite’s very first orbiter.

luna10-browse_732

Everything was timed so that the probe would enter lunar orbit at the same time the 23rd Annual Communist Party Congress was getting underway in Moscow.

“We need something to impress the delegates!” party bosses said. “You must come up with something that demonstrates Soviet superiority in space! Otherwise, Siberian cold can be very, very miserable for you.”

Imagine the pressure on the scientists in charge of the mission. Fortunately for them, they figured something out. And more importantly, it worked.

On April 3, 1966, just as Luna 10 came around from the back side of the moon, its transmitters turned on full blast. The message? The Communist anthem “The Internationale.” It was immediately broadcast live to the 5,000 people at the Congress. They went wild.

Too bad it was all a trick.

Thirty years later, the deception was revealed. Not taking chances with anything, party bosses instead played a pre-recording of the anthem that was broadcast the previous evening. The last thing gulag-averse scientists wanted to do was let down the Central Committee. Playing a trick on them was also risky, but less risky that turning up the receiver only to hear nothing. It was only after the fall of the USSR that the truth came out.

Still, Luna 10 did broadcast music back from the moon, the first time music came back to us from outer space.

 

Alan Cross

is an internationally known broadcaster, interviewer, writer, consultant, blogger and speaker. In his 40+ years in the music business, Alan has interviewed the biggest names in rock, from David Bowie and U2 to Pearl Jam and the Foo Fighters. He’s also known as a musicologist and documentarian through programs like The Ongoing History of New Music.

Alan Cross has 38022 posts and counting. See all posts by Alan Cross

Let us know what you think!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.