Space

Want to hear the songs Artemis II is waking up to in space? Here’s the official playlist

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by Rhea Caoile and Addy Bink - 04/09/26 8:01 AM ET

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by Rhea Caoile and Addy Bink - 04/09/26 8:01 AM ET

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(KSWB/KUSI) – The four Artemis II astronauts made history earlier this week, breaking the record previously set by Apollo astronauts for the farthest distance any human has ever gone in space during their 10-day lunar mission.

While going where Apollo never went, the Artemis crew is following several of the same practices the first crew did — Artemis is, of course, the twin sister of Apollo in Greek mythology.

Throughout their days in space, which will return to Earth later this week, the Artemis crew — NASA’s Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, and Victor Glover, and Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Jeremy Hansen — have continued the tradition of being woken up by music.

“The wakeup songs serve as alarms and are picked in advance of the mission by the crew and their friends and family. It is a longstanding tradition,” a NASA spokesperson told Nexstar.

A tradition, 50 years in the making

NASA records show that, since at least the Apollo program, astronauts have been awoken by music. Initially, crews “were serenaded by their colleagues in mission control with lyrics from popular songs that seemed appropriate to the occasion.”

Unsurprisingly, Dean Martin’s “Going Back to Houston” was a common song for the crew’s final day in space.

Chris Hadfield, a retired Canadian astronaut, explained in 2000 that selecting the right song is important.

“You play some lively, peppy bit of music – normally just two minutes of it – and after a pause,

you hear some groggy voice on the microphone mumbling, ‘Good morning, Houston,'” Hadfield

told former reporter Steve Knopper. “You don’t want to play a dirge or something uninspiring. You want to get them going in the morning.”

Records show the likes of John Philip Sousa, David Bowie, Frank Sinatra, and more, as well as theme songs from “Rocky” and “Star Wars,” have been played to awaken former space crews.

What has the Artemis II crew woken up to?

The Artemis crew, of course, has its own songs – and you, too, can wake up to their soundtracks.

NASA and Spotify released the official playlist of wake-up songs for the Artemis II mission on Tuesday, with more added on Wednesday.

“Each track was selected by the Moon crew, continuing a tradition that started more than 50 years ago,” NASA said in an Instagram post on Wednesday. “Stay tuned to find out which songs they’ll choose next.”

The official playlist, released on Spotify and announced by NASA, is as follows:

- “Sleepyhead” – Young & Sick

- “Green Light (feat. André 3000)” – John Legend

- “In a Daydream” – Freddy Jones Band

- “Pink Pony Club” – Chappell Roan

- “Working Class Heroes (Work)” – CeeLo Green

- “Good Morning” – Mandisa, TobyMac

- “Tokyo Drifting” – Glass Animals, Denzel Curry

- “Under Pressure” – Queen, David Bowie

With the Orion spacecraft carrying the crew expected to splashdown off the coast of San Diego on Friday, more tunes are expected to be added.

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