What would your liftoff song(s) be?
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What a time to be alive for space geeks like me.
Michael Strahan and William Shatner have been launched into space. The Webb Space Telescope is sending us some amazing images. The Artemis campaign is picking up speed. With all of this renewed interest in space, could lunar colonies, Martian expeditions, and space tourism be right around the corner?
Who knows?
That does present an interesting question – one that I asked a while back as I prepared to watch the livestream of a test launch of a SpaceX Starship, the largest rocket ever to fly. The launch was eventually scrubbed for that day, but one of the questions that was asked during the commentary has stuck around with me since then. “What would your liftoff song be if you were flying into space?”
It’s a good question, right? I mean, baseball players have their walk-up songs. Why wouldn’t astronauts have their own liftoff songs?
Choosing my liftoff song
I don’t know about you, but my mind’s eye instantly thought of a space-age version of Doug Masters’s mixtape in Iron Eagle (one of the reasons 1986 was such a great year of films).
And then I thought of Joaquin Phoenix…I mean, Max…launching in SpaceCamp (another reason why 1986 was such a great movie year, by the way).
My first thought for a liftoff song? Alive by P.O.D. It’s fast, loud, and has a driving beat. When you listen to it, you already feel like you’re headed somewhere. And the lyrics would fit, right? With the rush of leaving the launch pad and heading towards space, I’m sure one of the many things that would go through my head as I experienced liftoff for the first time would be “I feel so alive for the very first time.”
It seemed like a no-brainer to me.
But commenters started naming songs that were more ethereal, contemplative, and otherworldly. Like Ascent from the recent Apollo documentary. That one was a pretty popular mention. It got me thinking that maybe this wasn’t as cut-and-dry of a decision as I’d initially thought. Maybe other people would think of songs that I hadn’t even considered. So I asked the question on the Facebook page:
“You’re on a rocket, 10 minutes from launch. What song do you start playing?”
Me
The responses? Amazing. They were so good, I put them into my own Spotify playlist. And while I haven’t had a liftoff propel me into space, I have listened to this playlist when I’ve started long drives to Evansville or Kentucky. It’s quickly become my go-to long distance playlist.
Some of the suggestions were unexpected. like “Sail,” and “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.” But, they work!
Another unexpected – and fabulous – entry was one from Joel. And I love it. Because of course your liftoff song should be the same one that Dr. Zefram Cochran listens to during his test flight that becomes known as First Contact, ushering in a new age of human history.
If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you need to watch Star Trek: First Contact. It’s one of my favorite Star Trek entries.
The playlist
If you’re observant, you’ll notice that I added a few more songs than the ones that everyone suggested. But this list continues to evolve. I know I’m still missing some great entries. What songs should I add to this playlist?
Maybe I should find a few astronauts and ask them while I’m at it…
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