NASA crew wake up to Chris Rice's "Hallelujah"

DAY FOUR of the historical flight of John Glenn's return into space on the NASA shuttle Discovery began with a wake-up call featuring the sounds of Chris Rice and his song "Hallelujahs". Wakeup calls are a longstanding tradition of the NASA program, and each day during the flight, flight controllers in the Mission Control Centre greet the crew with an appropriate musical interlude. "Hallelujahs," penned by Rice over 5 years ago (depicting a poignant picture of nature, God's creation and even a reference to Saturn's rings), was chosen for the Sunday morning wake-up call by Discovery pilot Steve Lindsey and his family. "Hallelujahs is a favourite of the shuttle pilot's family and seemed very appropriate for the crew's Sunday morning orbit," stated one NASA official.

Songwriter Chris commented, "I have been overwhelmed by this whole thing. "l was thinking that it is amazing because 1962, the year John Glenn first went into space, was the year I was born. I'm a "sky-watcher" and have always been intrigued by space, so this is an honour for me to have them choose my song for this."