NASA Launches Music Contest for Final Space Missions

NASA is asking the general public to help choose songs to wake up the astronauts during the last two missions of the Space Shuttle Program.

Traditionally, the songs played to wake up the astronauts are selected by friends and family of the crews. For the last two scheduled missions, NASA is inviting the public to visit the "Wakeup Song Contest" website to select songs from a list of the top 40 previous wakeup calls or to submit original tunes for consideration.

The two songs, from the top 40 list, with the highest number of votes will be played as crew wakeup calls on the final scheduled flight of space shuttle Discovery, which is scheduled to launch on November 1.

The list of top 40 songs includes songs like “Fly Me to the Moon” by Frank Sinatra; “Free Fallin,” by Tom Petty; the Star Trek theme and U2’s “Beautiful Day.”

In addition to the "Wakeup Song Contest", NASA is also offering a once in a lifetime opportunity for up-and-coming musicians to have their music broadcast in space, by submitting original music to their website by January 10, 2011.

Original songs must have a space theme and be submitted to NASA by 4 p.m. CST on January 10, 2011. The songs will be reviewed by agency officials and the top entries will be put to a public vote.

The top two songs will be used to wake space shuttle Endeavour's crew. Endeavour's mission is the last scheduled space shuttle flight, and is targeted to launch on February 26, 2011.

To vote or submit an original song, visit: www.songcontest.nasa.