This past week, the first ever live DJ set from space took place. Using an iPad with djay Pro, European astronaut Luca Parmitano’s performance was beamed from the International Space Station straight to a cruise ship packed with ravers. Floating inside one of the ISS’s rooms, DJ Luca dropped a mix of EDM, hardstyle and uplifting (ahem) trance to an enthusiastic audience watching him from massive LED walls back on Earth.
The ISS is a floating research lab some 408km from Earth and is operated by five space agencies including NASA and the European Space Agency. It’s where astronauts can do physics and biology experiments in a “microgravity” environment, where things are in a state of constant freefall or weightlessness.
Because of this state of near zero-gravity, the iPad running djay Pro seems like the most robust choice for spinning just because it has the least number of moving parts: all you do is touch the screen to play a set. A standard turntable set-up would not work (at least not without major modifications) mainly because there is no gravity to consistently hold the needle down on the record. So think about that the next time you get annoyed at needles skipping in the DJ booth 😉
Check out the full performance below.
Performance Video
If you were to DJ in space, what would be your first song? How would you end your set? Let us know below.
Joey Santos
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