Music takes its first steps on the Moon. Thursday February 22, Odysseus, a private spacecraft, landed on lunar soil. Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Elvis Presley… On board, “digitized recordings of some of the most emblematic musicians of all time”, explains the American magazine Billboard. Other cultural objects were also sent.
“It’s music that stands the test of time,” Dallas Santana, the man behind this wacky idea, told Billboard. Among the titles sent into space, “unpublished recordings”, notably by Jimi Hendrix. Initially skeptical, Dallas Santana was finally pleasantly surprised. “They are on the moon now,” he continues. And the world will know more about them.”
Also read: Fifty years later, they tell us about their Woodstock
Jimi Hendrix, Bob Marley, Elvis Presley… What do these artists have in common? They all played at the Woodstock festival in the United States in 1969, the year man first set foot on the Moon. With his capsule, Dallas Santana hopes to “resuscitate” the spirit of the Woodstock generation. “We need peace on earth right now,” he continues. We brought to the moon the summer of love, the people, the artists and the messages that the earth needs right now.”
The irony is that “many musicians of this generation lobbied the U.S. government to stop spending money on moon landings in favor of solving earthly problems, which was the one of the reasons why NASA suspended lunar missions in 1972,” continues Dallas Santana.
Recordings are not the only cultural objects that make a one-way trip to the Moon. On the music side, the capsule also contains photos from the Woodstock festival as well as album covers. All packaged “in a structure of glass, nickel and NanoFiche built to last millions, if not a billion years,” explains Billboard.
Many non-musical artistic achievements are also on board. Among them, paintings by Rembrandt and Van Gogh. The documentary Climate Refugees, directed by Michael P. Nash, in 2010, is also included. “In case we get blown up with a nuclear weapon, or a meteorite hits us, or climate change wipes us out, there’s a testament to our history on the Moon,” the director told Billboard.