Last updated October 25, 2018 at 2:41 pm
German astronaut Alexander Gerst appeared live from the ISS to help Kraftwerk play SpaceLab.
When 7500 people crammed into Stuttgart’s Schlossplatz for legendary electronica group Kraftwerk’s appearance at the Jazz Open Festival, they had no idea their night was about to hit new heights.
Partway through the concert German ESA Astronaut Alexander Gerst made a surprise appearance live from the International Space Station, where he is living and working until mid-December.
Using a tablet specially configured with virtual synthesizers, Gerst and Kraftwerk founding member Ralf Hütter played an out-of-this-world duet version of the group’s 1978 track SpaceLab during the call.
Watch the once-in-a-lifetime performance in the video above, thanks to Kraftwerk.
The ISS has quickly become the highest altitude music studio, with Chris Hadfield writing and recording songs while aboard the station 400 km above Earth. Hadfield also performed a duet with the Barenaked Ladies while on board.
In 1986 American astronaut Ron McNair, an accomplished saxophonist, had worked with Jean-Michel Jarre on a piece of music for Jarre’s next album. It was intended that McNair would record his solo while in space aboard the Challenger shuttle, the first ever piece of music recorded in space. The project ended in disaster when McNair and the rest of the Challenger crew perished after the shuttle exploded during launch.
Copyright: Kraftwerk/ESA/JazzOpen – Sitara Schmitz
