Skip to main content

Christmas Firsts #4 : Outer Space

"Santa sighted  in space" - WS 2017 
And today, just for something different in this line up of Christmas FIRSTS - The first song ever broadcast from outer space!
On 16 December, 1965,  that much loved Christmas carol ‘Jingle Bells” was the first song broadcast  in a “space” Christmas prank, performed by Tom Stafford and Wally Schirra, Gemini 6 astronauts as they were preparing to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere.
 …they sent this report to  Mission Control :
Gemini VII, this is Gemini VI. We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, up in a polar orbit. He's in a very low trajectory travelling from north to south and has a very high climbing ratio. It looks like it might even be a ... Very low. Looks like he might be going to reenter soon. Stand by one ... You might just let me try to pick up that thing.
The astronauts then produced a smuggled harmonica and sleigh bells and broadcast a rendition of "Jingle Bells.    (from Wikipedia)  And here is the recording at Jingle Bells from Gemini 6. 


This was the first recorded musical performance in space but certainly not the  most famous... 

One of the best tributes to  David Bowie (and appropriate, given his stratospheric reach) is Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield’s stirring rendition of the singer’s 1969 single “Space Oddity,” recorded on board the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013. Hadfield’s video of the performance made history as the  first musical recording in space and has been viewed on YouTube almost 28 million times.
Chris Hadfield - Space Oddity at International Space Station. 
And on this fourth day of Advent with thoughts of Christmas carols in space, I wish you all "Peace on Earth " this festive season. 
PS : Did you know that Jingle Bells was originally written to be sung  at Thanksgiving, and was never meant to have anything to do with Christmas? It is now the song most associated with Christmas? 

Sources : https://www.theverge.com/2016/1/11/10749622/david-bowie-space-oddity-chris-hadfield-cover-memoriam
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jingle_Bells
 
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Christmas Firsts #18 : Where in the World?

Where in the world will FIRST  experience Christmas Day? Because of the time zones and daylight saving , the first places will be   Samoa,    Tonga  and Kiritimati (Christmas Island) . They   are the first places to welcome Christmas. New Zealand and Australia see in Christmas Day soon after,  while American Samoa and Baker Island in the United States of America are among the last. These statistics are more often quoted in relation to New Year's Eve, but I think it seems appropriate that Christmas Island is one of the first to celebrate Christmas in the world.  Kiritimati,    or Christmas Island, is a Pacific Ocean raised coral atoll in the northern Line Islands. It is part of the Republic of Kiribati. The name "Kiritimati" is a respelling of the English word "Christmas" in the  Kiribati language   The island has the greatest land area of any  coral atoll  in the w...
Post a Comment
Read more

Countdown to Christmas 20 - Fruitcake song!

There are many songs about fruit cakes  - not all of them referring to the Christmas cake we know and love.It is really surprising to learn via Google that there are 89 listed songs with references to Christmas cake or fruit cake - not all of them complimentary.   Probably one of the most famous folk songs about Christmas cake is Miss Fogarty's  Christmas Cake (a favourite sung by The Irish Rovers).  This first recorded comical Christmas song was written by C Frank Horn in 1883 in Pennsylania, as a variation of an Irish folk song, 'Miss Mulligan's Christmas Cake' . The chorus might give you the hint that Miss Fogarty's cake was not for the faint hearted or those who suffered from a weak stomach.    Chorus : There were plums and prunes and cherries, There were citrons and raisins and cinnamon, too There was nutmeg, cloves and berries And a crust that was nailed on with glue There were caraway seeds in abundance Such that...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

 Background Information:  Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start  with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound  silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap.  2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...
8 comments
Read more