Astronauts and Cosmonauts as musicians

[brihath]

JMS - 2/10/2007  10:57 PM

Don't forget "Stevie Ray" Robinson and the other members of the astronaut band, "Max Q".
http://tinyurl.com/2ooqo2

Who else is in the band right now?

[JMS]

* Dan Burbank - guitar
    * Tracy "TC" Caldwell - vocals
    * Ken "Taco" Cockrell - keyboards
    * Chris Ferguson - drums
    * Drew Feustel - lead guitar
    * Chris Hadfield - bass guitar
    * Greg "Box" Johnson - keyboards
    * Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger - vocals
    * Stephen "Stevie Ray" Robinson - lead guitar

[brihath]

Cool!  Thanks.

[Kel]

JMS - 3/10/2007  8:35 AM

* Dan Burbank - guitar
    * Tracy "TC" Caldwell - vocals
    * Ken "Taco" Cockrell - keyboards
    * Chris Ferguson - drums
    * Drew Feustel - lead guitar
    * Chris Hadfield - bass guitar
    * Greg "Box" Johnson - keyboards
    * Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger - vocals
    * Stephen "Stevie Ray" Robinson - lead guitar

I thought Dan Burbank went back to the Coast Guard??

[JMS]

You're probably right...
As was stated in the link I posted:
"The band's line-up is constantly changing due to flight crew assignments, training, and the occasional retirement"

[KSC Engineer]

One of the greatest physicist was Richard Feynman and he was a great drummer.

[John2375]

when and where do they perform?? Obviously the Houston area but do they perform regularly or just whenever they can all be free on the same night??

[brihath]

There was also a photo taken on Mir with a cosmonaut holding a guitar.  I think it may have been Gennady Strekalov, but I haven't been able to locate the photo.  Any info on cosmonauts as musicians?  As I recall, Alexei Leonov became an artist, but I was wondering about any who were musically talented.

[Skyrocket]

Thomas Reiter and Sergey Avdeyev playing Guitars onbaord the Mir

[brihath]

A-pickin and a-grinnin!  (How do you say that in Russian?) Cool!

[Ben E]

Out of curiosity, how did Winston Scott go from a BA in music to a MSc in engineering? Interesting discipline change, there!

[blue_eyes]

Ben E - 9/10/2007  3:33 PM

Out of curiosity, how did Winston Scott go from a BA in music to a MSc in engineering? Interesting discipline change, there!

I wondered about that too!  He spoke a little bit about it in his book "Reflections From Earth Orbit," but that is the only source so far that I have found much mention about it.  Apparently, as a kid he showed tremendous interest in science and mechanical and electrical things...... he spoke of how he used to take all his toys apart to see how they worked, and then put them all back together.... and he mentioned how one year he took a long string of Christmas tree lights apart and then used the components for his electrical projects.  However, there wasn't much opportunity for him to get very far ahead in science and engineering in his grade schools.  So he said that he came to realize that the best chance he had to get into college was by doing his music, so he gave that his best shot.  When he finally landed the university, his interest in technology was lit again and he jumped at the opportunities to take advanced math and science classes and engineering.

What an amazing and admirable path he took.  For me, when I was a little kid and took my toys completely apart, they never ended up back together... and the only thing I seemed to learn from it was that I would do better sitting in front of a piano!

[aurora899]

I found some clips of the "Max Q" astronaut band on YouTube. Now, I'm no Simon Cowell, and the clips were of poor quality, but these guys seem almost half decent. I don't know if they've ever recorded anything and you can buy a CD? I guess not. As it's all unofficial, NASA probably wouldn't approve - even if the proceeds went to charity.
I don't know how many gigs the band does a year. I believe they are the highlight of the astronaut office's annual christmas party.

[Michael Cassutt]

I found some clips of the "Max Q" astronaut band on YouTube. Now, I'm no Simon Cowell, and the clips were of poor quality, but these guys seem almost half decent. I don't know if they've ever recorded anything and you can buy a CD? I guess not. As it's all unofficial, NASA probably wouldn't approve - even if the proceeds went to charity.
I don't know how many gigs the band does a year. I believe they are the highlight of the astronaut office's annual christmas party.

All your questions will be answered in a forthcoming piece in AIR & SPACE magazine.

Michael Cassutt, the self-promoting author of same

[Michael Cassutt]

Since I mentioned it a few days back, I figure I should follow up with the Max Q article link, now available:

http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Max-Q-Live.html?c=y&page=1

Michael Cassutt

[JMS]

Thanks for the update Michael.
Great article.

I'll add to the thread that is was music that caused Scott Carpenter and I to meet. Fascinating person.

[aurora899]

Since I mentioned it a few days back, I figure I should follow up with the Max Q article link, now available:

http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Max-Q-Live.html?c=y&page=1

Michael Cassutt

Great article, Michael. Very enjoyable - and informative. I'm trying to calculate whether Steve Robinson's claim that there are 576 different combinations of the band is tongue in cheek or mathematically correct!

[Kel]

Since I mentioned it a few days back, I figure I should follow up with the Max Q article link, now available:

http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Max-Q-Live.html?c=y&page=1

Michael Cassutt

Fun read, Michael

[wjbarnett]

Very nice, Michael. Thanks!

[go4mars]

Since I mentioned it a few days back, I figure I should follow up with the Max Q article link, now available:

http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/Max-Q-Live.html?c=y&page=1

Michael Cassutt

Enjoyable article Michael.  I hadn't noticed this thread before.