SpaceX Astronauts Wake Up to BLACK SABBATH in Space

01 June 2020

On Saturday, two NASA astronauts successfully launched into the Earth’s orbit via SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft, and they had some anthemic music to hype them up. On the way to the launchpad at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley blasted AC/DC’s “Back in Black”. What’s more, they woke up on Sunday morning to BLACK SABBATH’s “Planet Caravan” in space prior to docking at the International Space Station.

The mission, a joint venture between NASA and Elon Musk’s SpaceX company, is the first one of its kind from U.S. soil since 2011, when NASA ended its Space Shuttle Program. And while the astronauts were wearing white, “Back in Black” is an ultimate comeback anthem.

CNN’s John Berman had a little fun with the AC/DC angle during the telecast, reporting, “We were told the astronauts listened to ‘Back In Black’ from AC/DC on their way to the rocket. In that vein, let’s just say, for those about to launch, we salute you.”

On Sunday, Behnken and Hurley arrived at the International Space Station, where they will remain for up to three months. Before docking at the station, the two astronauts were woken up in orbit at 4:45 a.m. ET by BLACK SABBATH’s “Planet Caravan” from 1970’s Paranoid, reported Space.com. The classic metal track features appropriate lines like, “We sail through endless skies/ Stars shine like eyes/ The black night sighs.”

Behnken, in particular, is definitely a fan of metal, as he previously woke up to TOOL’s “Parabola” during a 2010 Space Shuttle mission.