Music

Listen to R.E.M.'s Michael Stipe's voice message and rendition of "Man On the Moon" to final NASA mission astronauts

by Nicole Villeneuve

“From earth, a very good morning to you,” says R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe to the crew of Atlantis, the final NASA space shuttle mission.

The astronauts have already received the message and now we can hear the audio, too; it starts with an a capella snippet of the band’s huge 1992 hit “Man on the Moon.” Following the very sweet serenade is a hushed personal greeting in which Stipe thanks the generations of men and women who have explored outer space. The message concludes with the recorded song in full.

Stipe said of the recording, “I recorded “Man on The Moon” for NASA in Venice, Italy, where Galileo first presented to the Venetian government his eight-power telescope, and in 1610 wrote The Starry Messenger (Sidereus Nuncius), an account of his early astronomical discoveries that altered forever…” [via, well, NASA]