columbia/space truckin'

The US media continues to transport the recent space shuttle tragedy from shock, to grief, to reactions, to diluted overkill, to (not yet, but coming soon) parody and satire. An interesting (I use the word with great care, mind you) aspect was the musical connection the mission. To be precise, the Deep Purple connection. Moved by Deep Purple at her first-ever rock concert, Kalpana Chawla chose 20 CDs to carry aboard the STS-107 mission, including "Machine Head" and "Purpendicular", both selected because they had aviation/space-related songs ("Space Truckin'" and "The Aviator", respectively). Also carried on the flight are CDs by several Indian musicians including Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Hariprasad Chaurasia, and Ravi Shankar among others, Midori, Thelonius Monk, Steve Vai (for the rock and roll Hindu prayer on "Ultra Zone"), and Blackmore's Night. Also included is Rainbow's "Down to Earth", selected for Don Airey since there are not yet any DP Mk.8 releases. She also requested that Shadow of the Moon (Blackmore's Night) be played for the wake up music on board the space shuttle flight. She took a copy of Shadow of the Moon with her. All of these CDs were to be sent to the respective artists after the mission with certificates of flight.


Related Links

Blackmore's Night Curiosities

Space Truckin'/STS-107

Blackmore's Night | Reviews {scroll down to the end to see the blurb for Shadow of the Moon}