Gemini 6A: listen to the first song performed in outer space
Shortly before reentry into Earth’s atmosphere, the crew of Gemini 6A made a surprise call to mission control. “This is Gemini VI. We have an object, looks like a satellite going from north to south, up in a polar orbit. He’s in a very low trajectory traveling from north to south and has a very high climbing ratio. It looks like it might even be a … Very low. Looks like he might be going to reenter soon. Stand by one … You might just let me try to pick up that thing.”
The voyage of Gemini 6A was truly groundbreaking. The 1965 mission, flown by Wally Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford, achieved the first crewed reneevouz with a separate spacecraft, Gemini 7. The Soviet Union had made two failed attempts to launch simultous pairs of Vistok spacecraft, and while these established radio contact with each other, they were unable to adjust their orbits in order to rendevouz. Gemeni 6A and 7, meanwhile, came within 30cm of one another. That’s the length of a school ruler.
The original Gemini 6 mission was scheduled to take place on October 25th, 1965, but was cancelled after the uncrewed Atlas Agena target vehicle ran into problems and exploded during take-off. After a failed first launch, Gemini 6A launched successfully on December 15th at half past eight in the morning.
For the next week, the crews of Gemini 6A and 7 made a series of burns to get their spacecraft within touching distance. This was made much easier by the absence of turbulence in space. “I was amazed at my ability to maneuver,” Schirra told Smithsonian Magazine. “I did a fly-around inspection of Gemini 7, literally flying rings around it, and I could move to within inches of it in perfect confidence”.
After a successful renedevouz, the crew of 6A began making plans for reentry. At this point, they decided to have a little bit of fun, it being Christmas Eve and all. Having informed mission control of the “very low” unidentified object making its way “north to south,” the crew broke into a rendition of ‘Jingle Bells‘ played on an eight note Hohner ‘Little Lady’ harmonica with rhythmic accomnpiment provided by a handful of small bells. “You’re too much, VI!” came Houston’s reply.
That short musical interlude was the first musical performance from outer-space, paving the way for astronaut-cum-rockstar Chris Hadfield’s rendition of David Bowie’s ‘Space Oddity’. Personally, I find this delightfully crude rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’ infinitely more charming.
You can listen to the recording below.
