Jack White becomes the first person to play a record in space

Jack White fulfilled his dream of playing the first record in space on July 30.

His Third Man Records label launched a “space-proof” turntable and gold-plated vinyl 28,000 metres above Earth, which then played a combination of John Boswell’s ‘A Glorious Dawn’ and a recording of American scientist Carl Sagan describing the universe for an 80-minute stretch.

The venture ended after the high altitude-balloon carrying the turntable burst and was sent tumbling back to its launch site of Marsing, Idaho.

Talking about the achievement, White said: “Our main goal from inception to completion of this project was to inject imagination and inspiration into the daily discourse of music and vinyl lovers.

“We hope that in meeting our goal we inspire others to dream big and start their own missions, whatever they may be.”

Kevin Carrico took three years to engineer the Icarus Craft that piloted the mission. The record also had to be plated in gold so the grooves would keep their shape and not expand and contract after being exposed to direct sunlight and the airless atmosphere.

“As you rise higher and higher into the thinning atmosphere, temperature and increasing vacuum (lack of air) can cause issues. Vinyl has a rather low melting point (71C/160F) and without air to keep things cool, you could wind up with a lump of melted plastic on your hands if a record is exposed to the sun for too long,” Carrico explained

Check out a video documenting the events of the day below.

[Via: The Guardian]

Patrick Hinton is Mixmag's Digital Intern, follow him on Twitter