On July 11, 1969, it was a Friday, the world was waiting for the imminent departure of the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, expected a few days later, and the BBC broadcast the new song by a young singer still little known, David Bowie.
The song was Space Oddity: it has been such a success that over the years every single anecdote has been described (here you will find many, but also here). In this Innovation Almanac, however, the relevant ones are three. The first, the inspiration: where did David Bowie come up with the idea to write the story of Major Tom and his melancholy dialogue from the stars with Ground Control? From vision of 2001, A Space Odyssey by Stanley Kubrick, the film that was released in May 1968 (the chosen title would also be a quote from the film). The second anecdote concerns the wonderful cover that a real astronaut made of him singing it from the Space Station: it was 2013, his name is Chris Hadfield and among the hundreds of interpretations of Space Oddity (some also in Italian, not very brilliant), this one, for Bowie himself, is the most poignant (here the video, the voice is not that of Bowie but deserves the vision).
Third and final anecdote: on February 7, 2018 Elon Musk sent a red Tesla Roadster into space; on board a mannequin dressed as an astronaut, Spaceman; the radio lit up to the tune of David Bowie’s masterpiece.
As usual, it is worth the invitation to report stories, possibly Italian, for this innovation almanac by writing to [email protected].
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