On July 30th, Jack White completed the mission of playing the very first record in space. “A Glorious Dawn” by composer John Boswell, mixed with audio of Carl Sagan describing the universe, was played and peaked at 94,413 feet above Earth.
With a specially designed turntable, the Icarus Craft, that took three years to engineer by close friend and electronics consultant to Third Man Records, Kevin Carrico, and a gold plated vinyl record to maintain its groove and operate in airless conditions with direct sunlight, played for approximately 80 minutes before the high altitude balloon carrying the mechanism burst and projected back to its launch station in Marsing, Idaho.
The Icarus Craft and gold record utilized to withstand direct sunlight and airless conditions. Credit: Third Man Records Twitter
“As you rise higher and higher into the thinning atmosphere, temperature and increasing vacuum (lack of air) can cause issues,” Carrico explained. “Vinyl has a rather low melting point (160F) and without air to keep things cool, you could wind up with a lump of melted plastic on your hands if a record is exposed to the sun for too long.”
White, the Third Man Records founder, when discussing the achievement said, “Our main goal from inception to completion of this project was to inject imagination and inspiration into the daily discourse of music and vinyl lovers. Combining our creative impulses with those of discovery and science is our passion, and even on the scale that we are working with here, it was exhilarating to decide to do something that hasn’t been done before and to work towards its completion. And, it brings us great fulfillment to pay tribute to the incredible scientist and dreamer that Carl Sagan was. We hope that in meeting our goal we inspire others to dream big and start their own missions, whatever they may be.“
Third Man Records wrote in a statement: “We could not be happier to check this longtime goal off its bucket list.”
Watch the Icarus Craft make history:
Connect with Third Man Records: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter
