How have we as a global society made it to the year 2016 without having dedicated the resources and effort needed to play a record in outer space for nobody to hear? It seems crazy, right? Unfortunately, it’s all too true. The good news, however, is that Jack White’s Third Man Records is in the process of righting that wrong.
The Detroit-based independent record label announced that it will be celebrating its seventh anniversary on July 30 by launching a high-altitude-balloon-powered vessel, rigged with a custom-built “space-proof” turntable, into the upper atmosphere. From its destination far, far away from carbon-based ears, the Icarus Craft will play a gold-plated copy of “A Glorious Dawn,” John Boswell’s Symphony Of Science musical remix of a Carl Sagan monologue from the 1980 series Cosmos. The celestial-bound record will represent the label’s 3 millionth pressing.
The floating record player was designed by Kevin Carrico, an engineer whom Third Man’s Joshua V Smith describes as “a wizard from Detroit.” Carrico previously assisted in the restoration of Jack White’s 1947 Voice–O–Graph vinyl recording booth, which was used on Neil Young’s 2014 album A Letter Home.
“Third Man Records is over-the-moon with excitement to pursue and share with you the Icarus Craft’s mission to spin a record further from Earth than a record has ever been spun,” the label said in a statement. “Plan to join us and witness history in the making!”