How the moon and music have collided in space

Q: What songs are astronauts listening to on the Artemis II mission?

Astronauts on the Artemis II mission are listening to 'Pink Pony Club' by Chappell Roan and 'Tokyo Drifting' by Glass Animals featuring Denzel Curry.

Q: How did Denzel Curry react to his song being played in space?

Denzel Curry expressed excitement and shock about his song being included in the astronauts' playlist and mentioned he would love to hug the astronauts for considering his music.

Q: What are Denzel Curry's future ambitions regarding space?

Denzel Curry hopes to be the first rapper to perform in space and is excited about the potential for his song to gain a 'second life' after being featured in the space playlist.

Q: What is the significance of music for astronauts during space missions?

Music serves as a source of motivation and relaxation for astronauts during missions, enhancing their overall experience and well-being while in space.

Techno at the gym, disco for the club, pop on the long drives - but what music is right for space?

You might not expect astronauts to be jamming out to tunes like Chappell Roan's Pink Pony Club or Tokyo Drifting by Glass Animals and Denzel Curry - but that's what the Artemis II crew have been waking up to on Nasa's most recent trip around the moon.

US rapper Curry tells BBC Newsbeat of his excitement and shock that his song reached new heights this week.

He says if he was to ever meet the astronauts he would want to "give all of them a hug for even thinking about me" for their space playlist.

Curry, who says he's always had an interest in space-related films, hopes the song gets a "second life now" and his next ambition is to be the first rapper to perform in space.

And there is more to the relationship between space and music than you might think.

While the final checks were being completed before now-retired British astronaut Tim Peake's trip to the International Space Station in 2015, he picked three songs.

His spirit-boosting playlist consisted of Queen's Don't Stop Me Now, U2's Beautiful Day and Coldplay's A Sky Full of Stars.

"I wanted to have a bit of fun before launch," he tells Newsbeat, adding that music is "really important" to have in space.

"I think it gives you a connection back to Earth," Peake says.

"It reminds you of times in your life when you've heard that music. Maybe it reminds you of friends and family."

The experience of hearing human music being played in space is "quite surreal", he says.

"You look back and you see the entire planet… and that's it. That's home," he adds.

"This lovely, beautiful, sort of blue, green, white marble in the blackness of space.

"So to actually have that music inside your capsule is really important to make that connection back to your loved ones."

That connection through a "familiar song" is key, according to Antonia Jaramillo, who works for Nasa.

"They are by themselves. They are going around the moon," Jaramillo tells Newsbeat from mission control in Houston.

"We all have our morning wake up routine.

"You have a soundtrack to get you in the zone. It's a very similar thing we're doing for our crew."

So just how does the music make its way to astronauts in space?

The process is fairly simple, she says.

"Those songs are downloaded and then with our team - the flight controllers at mission control - they are able to broadcast it to the crew.

"Just like how we do all the other communications with our crews in space."

Jaramillo says the specific playlist for the Artemis II mission was selected by the crew and their friends and family.

"It's a blend of some personal favourites, as well as some specific meaningful tracks for this mission.

"It's been a joy to listen to."

Dr Eleanor Armstrong, who researches space at the University of Leicester, tells Newsbeat that playing songs in the morning in space "dates way back to the Gemini era".

Gemini is the name of a space programme in the US that Nasa ran in 1960s.

Armstrong explains that playing music draws on a long history of organisations, like the US Navy, using songs to start the day.

The nine-song playlist for Nasa's Artemis II has been made available on Spotify, and includes other artists such as John Legend, Queen and David Bowie.

Astronauts have also been known to do their own thing in the past.

On 16 December 1965, to celebrate the first successful space rendezvous, astronauts Thomas Stafford and Wally Schirra surprised mission control with a little festive spirit.

The pair smuggled a harmonica and a set of small bells during the Gemini 6A mission.

To the surprise of the team listening back at base, Stafford and Schirra performed Jingle Bells.

The first instruments to be played in space are on display at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C.

In more recent years, astronauts still use music to signify different moments in space.

Armstrong says "there's also a long history of using songs on uncrewed missions".

She tells Newsbeat the unmanned probe Voyager mission, which went out past the edge of the solar system into deep space in 1977, had a disc containing lots of songs and sounds "representing the diversity of human experience".

The 33-year-old says "SpaceX's Tesla Roadster that's in space currently is [programmed to play] David Bowie's Space Oddity on loop".

Armstrong says US astronaut Christina Koch, who is part of the Artemis II crew, is very interested in "music in space".

She says the 47-year-old "found the cassette tape that they played on the Apollo 11 mission".

Koch then played it during the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing when she was on the International Space Station (ISS).

During her time on the ISS in 2019 to 2020, "she learned to play a song for her husband on the keyboard fortheir wedding anniversary".

Koch has also been known to create playlists with her husband.

The idea is each playlist is the soundtrack to a section of her journey that they both listen to, so they can feel connected despite the distance.

Speaking to Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier this week, Koch described the wake-up songs as "absolute perfection", but she wasn't happy Pink Pony Club was cut off "before the chorus".

"I really was just singing it all day after that," she said.

Commander Reid Wiseman said Tokyo Drifting reminded him of his family.

"A song that my daughters and I listen to when we go on our annual vacation to Florida, so that meant the most to me," he added.

Under Pressure by Queen and David Bowie was suggested by Jeremy Hansen's family, though he said his "second favourite song" will come on landing day.

While Victor Glover gave his wife a "shout out" for her choice.

"[She] actually replaced one of my songs with a song by Mandisa [called] Good Morning," he said.

"It was actually really pleasant to wake up to."

The full Artemis II wake-up playlist: