The Out-Of-This-World Record That Paul McCartney Set

Legendary songwriter and musician Paul McCartney has always been an innovator. His groundbreaking work with The Beatles during the 1960s redefined the boundaries of popular music. It saw McCartney alongside his songwriting partner John Lennon and fellow Beatles George Harrison and Ringo Starr pen some of the world's most-covered songs, develop new studio techniques, and develop their sound from Merseybeat rock 'n' roll records to experimental psychedelia by the second half the decade, during which time they became the biggest band in the world. Even after The Beatles split acrimoniously in 1970, McCartney, who initially bore the brunt of fans' dismay after appearing to have used the news of the split to propel his solo career, continued to find immense success, reaching a new commercial peak with his new band Wings' 1973 album "Band on the Run." Who else can say they were in the biggest band in the world twice?

McCartney has remained an icon ever since, continuing to fill stadiums and headlining the U.K.'s Glastonbury Festival as recently as 2022. But back in 2005, he took pop music to an even greater scale, becoming the first artist to broadcast a concert live to space. His audience was the 12-person crew of the International Space Station, for whom the concert was a wake-up serenade that was truly out of this world.

Paul McCartney's relationship with NASA began to develop in the early 2000s, when he learned that the McCartney-penned 1966 Beatles classic, "Good Day Sunshine," was regularly being used by the space agency's control room to wake astronauts serving in space, specifically on the Space Shuttle Discovery mission who heard the song the day they were given the go-ahead to attempt a landing in favorable conditions. "I was extremely proud to find out that one of my songs was played for the crew of Discovery this summer," McCartney admitted, adding that he hoped to "repay the favor" by taking things to the next level (per paulmccartney.com).

In the months that followed, McCartney hatched a plan with NASA to broadcast live from his then-ongoing "US" tour. With the tour passing through Anaheim, California, on November 12, 2005, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to treat the astronauts to a groundbreaking live broadcast.

Paul McCartney was performing to a crowd of 15,000, and the singer recalled a decade later how excited he and the tour crew were to get the link-up happening. He recalled telling the audience: "By the way, have we got a surprise for you! And what I want you to do is, when I say '123' we'll ALL say good morning to the astronauts!' And then we're going to play a couple of songs for them!" (per paulmccartney.com) Live footage from inside the ISS was then beamed on stage, with the astronauts performing zero-gravity somersaults to the delight of McCartney and the audience. 

As well as "Good Day Sunshine," McCartney treated the space crew to a performance of the recent hit "English Tea," taken from the 2005 album "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard." Working with NASA was a big thrill for McCartney, who said during the broadcast: "I can't believe we're actually transmitting to space. This is sensational. I love it" (via BBC). The musical first received significant media attention, and the show was released the following year as an acclaimed live DVD, titled "The Space within US."  In 2011, "Good Day Sunshine" was once again used to wake astronauts in space, this time serenading the crew of the Atlantis shuttle shortly before they were set to return to Earth. McCartney himself provided a personalized message to go with it, in which he said: "Good morning guys. Wake up! And good luck on this, your last mission. Well done" (per ABC News). Other musicians including Beyonce provided their own messages.