Jack White is widely revered as the modern saviour of the vinyl record, having dedicated the latter part of his life to preserving his favourite medium for musical consumption.
His newest stunt aimed at drawing all eyes back on to vinyl is like nothing he’s ever done before. This one is literally out of this world: Jack White successfully played a record in space.
Jack White goes where no one has gone before, plays a gold-plated LP of Carl Sagan’s A Glorious Dawn in space.
Using an air-tight, space-proof turntable attached to a high-altitude balloon, White blasted gold-plated copy of Carl Sagan’s A Glorious Dawn at 94,413 feet above the Earth over a 90 minute period on the weekend. As you do.
White first hinted at his plans back in 2012 in an interview with Interview Magazine, saying that his biggest concerns with the stunt were of how to “drop the needle with all that turbulence up there and ensure that it will still play.”
A statement from White’s Third Man Records revealed some details about the stunt afterwards, saying that the turntable used a “sturdy phono cartridge and stylus as well as an onboard flight computer programmed with a few different actions to keep the record playing while it was safe to do so.”
White himself also released a statement, saying:
“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. Combining our creative impulses with those of discovery and science is our passion, and even on the scale that we are working with here, it was exhilarating to decide to do something that hasn’t been done before and to work towards its completion. And, it brings us great fulfillment to pay tribute to the incredible scientist and dreamer that Carl Sagan was. We hope that in meeting our goal we inspire others to dream big and start their own missions, whatever they may be.”
Check out a short demo of the whole thing below!
