Nashville, Tennessee-based Third Man Records – which was founded by The White Stripes’ Jack White and has released works by Wanda Jackson, Laura Marling and Cold War Kids – went all out to celebrate it’s seventh anniversary over the weekend, by launching the first vinyl played in space – or rather, the edge of space, to be precise.
The indie label sent a turntable 94,000 feet up into the stratosphere as it played Carl Sagan’s “A Glorious Dawn from” ‘Cosmos’. To achieve this, the company teamed up with engineer Kevin Carrico and Students and Teachers in Near Space, and built a space-proof vehicle dubbed the Icarus Craft.
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The contraption featured a high-altitude balloon, along with custom turntable components and an onboard flight computer to keep the record playing through the its flight and descent. To help the record maintain its grooves in space, the vinyl was plated with gold and the platter beneath was designed to serve as a heat-sink so they wouldn’t warp out of shape.
Skip ahead to 1 21 20 to witness The Icarus Craft at its maximum altitude, and enjoy the wonderful stylings of composer John Boswell.
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