Contest winner's playlist will be sent to space aboard iPod

As if there weren't enough reasons to want to be a kid again, the European Space Agency is holding a contest for children 18-and-under that requires crafting the perfect playlist for astronauts floating around the International Space Station -- and the lucky winner scores a trip to South America to watch an iPod loaded with his/her tunes launched aboard the agency's Automated Transfer Vehicle. In a twist on the old "What would you bring to a desert island" question, the contest -- which is only open to residents of EU countries participating in the ATV program -- asks entrants to envision what ten songs they'd want to listen to (guess they're only sending up a shuffle) as they orbited 400 kilometers above the Earth, and although the rules don't specifically prohibit it, we imagine that entries which include "Major Tom," "Free Fallin'," or "Also Sprach Zarathustra" (not to mention anything by the Beatles) will be immediately disqualified. Now when the 20-tonne vehicle heads off towards the ISS later this year, it certainly won't be carrying the first iPod into orbit -- Anousheh Ansari famously brought hers up last year, among others -- and with the "Gates in Space" story now definitively debunked (tourist Charles Simonyi attributed the rumor to a Russian press "notorious for their fabrications") it looks as though space -- much like many places on Earth -- will remain a decidedly Zune-free zone for the foreseeable future.

[Via FARK, image courtesy of NASA]

[Heath Stahl @ Apr 25th 2007 4:14PM]

One song I hope doesn't make the cut is "Its The End Of The World As We Know It(And I Feel Fine)" by REM.

[Anders @ Apr 25th 2007 5:06PM]

Hate to burst your bubble, but "End of the World" is done by Great Big Sea.

[Jack @ Mar 15th 2008 2:17PM]

Um REM IS the correct band, and its an amazing song!!

[Cupajo @ Apr 25th 2007 4:15PM]

sweet dreams and flying machines....flying safely through the air.

[stephen @ Apr 25th 2007 4:22PM]

track 1 has got to be Bowie - "Space Oddity"

[Pinkerton @ Apr 25th 2007 5:20PM]

Track two - "Major Tom" by Peter Schilling... if any kid under 18 knew who that was. Seriously tho, I wouldn't want to hear any song that describes how the shuttle Columbia re-entered the atmosphere.

[phil @ Apr 25th 2007 4:40PM]

I think you'll wanna add Elton John's "Rocket Man" to the list.

[Heath Stahl @ Apr 25th 2007 5:03PM]

Well to burst yours back, REM did write the song. Covering the song, As Great Big Sea did, does not make it yours. Here's the Wiki on the song: http://tinyurl.com/2l8jqw

[Josef F @ Apr 25th 2007 6:47PM]

While I absolutely love GBS's version, it was in fact an REM song first.

[myscrnnm @ Apr 25th 2007 5:07PM]

WTF, player-hating on the Beatles?!

[Denis Vitchevsky @ Apr 25th 2007 5:41PM]

Well, I do guess 'Space Oddity' wont be there, but Bowie also has 'Life on Mars'. :)

[David @ Apr 25th 2007 6:06PM]

First song I thought of was Armor For Sleeps "Slip Like Space".

[Travis Brown @ Apr 25th 2007 6:20PM]

"Neighborhood Spaceman" by Peeping Tom... anyone?

[Paula @ Apr 25th 2007 6:39PM]

How come I can see the winner getting slapped with a lawsuit by the RIAA?

[Anders @ Apr 25th 2007 6:48PM]

Ahh - my frickin' comment double posted.

...well, crap - looks like I'm corrected.

[Joseph @ Apr 25th 2007 7:33PM]

Something from taylor hicks...ROFLMAO

[CL @ Apr 25th 2007 9:01PM]

The Planets - Gustav Holst

[scott @ Mar 15th 2008 3:20PM]

one of the best compositions ever.

[Shunnabunich @ Apr 25th 2007 9:06PM]

BT - Satellite :P

[awoehler @ Apr 25th 2007 9:09PM]

Easy: Track 1 - Ballboy "A Day In Space"

[Scott C. @ Apr 25th 2007 9:45PM]

Hmmm... I must be old because I don't have a clue who Great Big Sea is. I guess I'm down with the "old school" REM version.

Oh and as for songs, I guess anything by Man or Astroman? would be good.

[ha @ Apr 25th 2007 9:53PM]

Obviously David Bowie - Space Oddity.

Guster - Satellite
Beastie Boys - Intergalactic
Elton John - Rocket Man

*Nsync - Space Cowboy
Cobra Starship - Snakes on a Plane

Don't lie, you love them.

[Chris H @ Apr 25th 2007 9:58PM]

The Intergalactic Laxative, by Donovan.

[Sparky @ Apr 26th 2007 4:08AM]

Don't Bring Me Down (Electric Light Orchestra)
Vertigo (U2)
Back in Black (AC/DC or Hayseed Dixie)
Fly Me to the Moon (Astrud Gilberto)
Come Fly With Me (Frank Sinatra)
I Get Around (Beach Boys)
If I Fell (Beatles) (sorry)
Here Comes the Sun (Beatles) (sorry again)
Blue Danube Waltz (Strauss) (via film 2001 A Space Odyssey)
Lucky Star (Madonna)

[Sparky @ Apr 27th 2007 6:38AM]

Love Really Hurts Without You (Billy Ocean)

[PenaltyKillah @ Apr 27th 2007 8:25PM]

Yeah, kids, why not send a playlist of nursery rhymes? XD

[cvcvbdff @ Apr 28th 2007 5:06AM]

if only it weren't an ipod...

[I LOVE THE CAPS LOCK KEY @ Apr 29th 2007 11:49AM]

The Blue Danube Waltz by Johan Strauss II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tkq0OnabR6E

[Leopold Porkstacker @ Apr 30th 2007 1:15PM]

DUH! Simple! The only thing you would need would be DSOTM!!!.....but then again, no under-18 kiddies would know that. A second choice would be the 1976 hit album Oxygene, or the 1978 album Equinoxe... if you don't know the artist, then you are once again, TOO YOUNG.

-he who stacks pork