A Grande Love Affair with Space
NASA is the 'coolest' place on earth according to Ariana Grande, but that's something we already knew here at IROC. Grande paid the Johnson Space Center a visit last Friday before her concert in Houston and the lucky 'NASA' singer received an extensive behind-the-scenes tour of the facility.
Grande's love of NASA runs deep; it's not only a song on her 'Thank U, Next' album but her website also sells 'NASA glasses' and merch with her name written in the 'red worm' NASA font. Perhaps, Grande wearing the over-sized spacesuit will help motivate NASA to procure astronaut gear for people of all sizes, especially smaller women, as the first female space walk had to be postponed due to lack of diversity in sizes. Seriously.
And now-
Let IROC fly you into A JOURNEY OF HISTORICAL MOMENTS for
WOMEN in SPACE and of course, the right song for each magical moment...
WHO WAS THE FIRST WOMAN IN SPACE?
Valentina Tereshkova launched into space aboard the "Vostok 6" Soviet mission on June 6th, 1963. She was chosen from a pool of over 400 applicants. For this, IROC kicks off the first song of today's spacey playlist with the Beatles' hit "Back in the USSR" - Click HERE to listen.
WHO WAS THE FIRST AMERICAN WOMAN IN SPACE?
Sally Ride was the first American Woman to launch into space aboard the "STS-7 mission" of the "Challender" space shuttle in June 1983. Cue the music for Sly & The Family Stone band to cheer her on as he screams "I said RIDE SALLY RIDE!" at 1:22 in THIS SONG CLICK HERE TO LISTEN.
(And no- we didn't forget about the song "American Woman" - keep reading below; )
WHO WAS THE FIRST FEMALE SPACE WALKER?
In 1982, Svetlana Savitskaya became the second woman to fly into space aboard the "Soyuz T-5" to the Salyut 7 space station. However, it was on her second trip space in July 1984 that she also became the first woman to space walk... Cue the music to Lemon Jelly's song "Space Walk" which can be listened to HERE.
WHO WAS THE FIRST AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN IN SPACE?
In September of 1992, Mae Jemison launched into space aboard the NASA space shuttle
"Endeavor." The musical homage to this trail blazing astronaut could be either the song "American Woman" or "Run The World (Girls)." To hear Lenny Kravitz's cover of The Guess Who classic "American Woman" click HERE. To listen to Beyonce's "Run The World"
WHO WAS THE FIRST WOMAN TO COMMAND THE SPACE SHUTTLE?
In July 1999, Eileen Collins became the first woman to command the Space Shuttle aboard the "STS-93" mission. Collins logged over 1,000 hours of piloting jet aircraft to be qualified for the role that also landed her a second Space Shuttle Commander mission in July 2005 as well. To honor this maverick commander and first timer, IROC cues the classic song which shares the same name as its NASA Commander- Click HERE to listen to "C'mon Eileen!"
(Albeit, that "red dress" lyric would have to be changed to "blue onesie mechanic suit")
WHO WAS THE FIRST FEMALE SPACE STATION COMMANDER?
In April of 2008, Peggy Whitson became the first woman to command the International Space Station (ISS) during the "Expedition 16" mission. Commander Whitson also became the first woman to repeat this accomplishment in July 2016 during Expedition 51 mission when she was ISS Commander for the second time. Peggy Whitson also holds the title for oldest woman in space as she was 57 years old upon returning from her last space flight.
For this IROC salutes Commander Whitson with the Blues Image song, "Ride Captain Ride" (upon your mystery ship) - Click HERE to listen.
For a complete list of "First Women in Space To..." including the first marathon ran in space (!) and first female space tourist - See Business Insider article HERE.
There are some exciting times ahead for space and ALL human kind-
And IROC will be there every step of the way providing the soundtrack to the future as we embark upon new worlds beyond the stars.
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