Music by Jimi Hendrix, Elvis Presley, Bob Marley, Janis Joplin, and more has been placed on the surface of the moon in an “arts-centric time capsule” by the Odysseus lunar lander.
Launched by SpaceX, Odysseus arrived on the moon’s surface along with the time capsule on Thursday, February 22nd. Consisting of a digitized archive of music, photos, artwork, and more, the time capsule supposedly offers a rough overview of the breadth of human culture, from fragments of ancient Sumerian music notation to paintings by Rembrandt and Van Gogh to beats by Timbaland and more.
Housed in a glass, nickel, and NanoFiche structure, the time capsule was engineered to last for millions of years, if not more. Thematically, the curators focused on works from 1969, in commemoration of the Apollo 11 landing and the Woodstock festival that occurred weeks later. Others of the 222 total artists featured include Marvin Gaye, Santana, Chuck Berry, Sly & the Family Stone, The Who, and more, as well as photos from Woodstock, and album art, like Pink Floyd’s Dark Side of the Moon.
The idea for the time capsule was pitched by Dallas Santana, whose company Space Blue, curated the project, working alongside Beverly Hills Productions and Melody Trust, the latter of which owns thousands of masters from classic artists. As a result, the time capsule includes never-before-released songs, such as early recordings by Hendrix before the formation of the Jimi Hendrix Experience.
Last week’s landing marks the first time an American craft has touched-down on the moon since 1972, and the first time ever it’s been done by a private entity. During its descent on the moon, the 14-foot-tall craft reportedly came in too fast, causing it to topple over on its side, limiting its antennas’ functionality. Now, as it enters a two week lunar night, its batteries will lose power and it will die, as designed.
According to Space Blue’s Santana, some musicians were “concerned” about Elon Musk’s involvement in the project, resulting in the group opting to curate the archive independently.
“When we decided to have conversations about musicians last year, we thought it was not appropriate to bring it to [Musk’s] attention what we were going to do,” Santana said. “Musicians were concerned about that. They said, ‘Does Elon Musk have anything to do with deciding what musicians go up there?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely not, this is a private payload.’”
For more, read the full report on the time capsule from Billboard.