- NASA has revealed its playlist of wake-up call songs for the Artemis II crew
- It includes Chappell Roan’s Pink Pony Club and a cover of Passion Pit’s Sleepyhead
- This tradition dates back to the days of the Apollo missions
Besides being a roaring mid-mission success, NASA’s Artemis II venture is one of the most important historical events of our time, but despite traveling through deep space, its astronauts haven’t missed out on the simple things we love about life on Earth.
From its food menu of much-loved delicacies to using the iPhone 17 Pro Max to take pictures of our planet from afar, these things make life on the Orion spacecraft much more manageable – and the same goes for its choice of music. You heard that right. In space, pop music still exists.
Manned by the Artemis II control team based in Houston, Texas, NASA plays a series of songs for the Orion spacecraft as astronauts Christina Koch, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen wake up. It’s a handy way to ensure the crew is kept on a schedule that aligns with the rest of the team down on the ground.
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Amid all the seriousness of the Artemis II venture, this is one of the light-hearted elements of the space mission that people have been following online. NASA is unveiling each song with each wake-up call so the next one can remain a surprise, but there have already been a ton of bangers NASA has dished out to the crew since they launched into space on April 1.
Start of the series of wake-up calls was Sleepy head by Young and Sick (a cover of Passion Pit’s original version) – whose title fits how the crew must have felt at the time.
The second wake-up call was soundtracked by John Legend and Andre 3000’s Green lightfollowed by In a daydream by the Freddy Jones Band and viral pop banger Pink Pony Club by Chappell Roan, which was only cut a minute into the song, eliciting a humorous response from Wiseman: “We were eagerly awaiting the chorus,” he told the control crew.
NASA played chappell roan’s pink pony club to wake up the astronauts on artemis ii this morning! “we all eagerly awaited the chorus” pic.twitter.com/n0pqgkDz16April 4, 2026
CeeLo Greens Working Class Heroes (Labour)Mandisa and ToyMacs Good morningand glass animals’ Tokyo Drifting exit the playlist. NASA has more tunes coming as the Artemis II crew returns to Earth, but we won’t know what they’ll be until NASA updates its official Spotify playlist, which you can stream right now.
It may come as a surprise to you, but this is not unique to the Artemis II mission. NASA’s tradition of sending out wake-up calls goes all the way back to the Apollo days, especially when NASA used Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett to wake up the crew, not forgetting when the theme for 2001: A Space Odyssey was used during the Apollo 15 mission in 1971.
What tracks would you like to hear if you were trapped in the Orion spacecraft?
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