Wake Up songs - The music played by the NASA mission control to gently rouse sleeping astronauts, is a revered age-old tradition that dates all the way back to the 1960's during the time of the Apollo missions. However, in its forty plus years of existence, the songs have always been picked by either the astronauts or their friends and family.

Now, for the Space Shuttle's final two missions, NASA has opened up the privilege of selecting the songs to the entire world, in two separate contests.

For the Discovery Mission, scheduled to launch in November 2010, they are asking fans to vote here https://songcontest.nasa.gov/top40 for their favorite tune from a list of 40 choices, which include classics like the Beatle's 'Good Day Sunshine' and 'Here Comes the Sun', as well as, Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground. The two top choices will be played to the astronauts during the mission.

While this is fun, their request for the final Space Shuttle mission aboard the Endeavour is even more exciting. In this case, instead of picking a song by an existing artist, NASA is hosting a contest and asking people to come up with an original song or tune. Since the Shuttle is not scheduled to take off until next year, competitors have until January 2011 to submit their creation(s) to songcontest.nasa.gov. Be sure to enter one or both the contests and take advantage of this unusual opportunity to participate in an actual NASA mission.

NASA's Space Shuttle program, which began with the launch of Columbia's two-day space jaunt in 1981, has been a tremendous success. Over the years, the astronauts have performed many important tasks like repairing damaged satellites, improving and extending the International Space Station and conducting many scientific experiments. However, now after over 30 years, the shuttles are old and ready to be replaced by the Orion - NASA's next-generation exploration vehicle that is expected to take the scientists back to the moon by 2020 and then, onto Mars and beyond!

sources: telegraph.co.uk, nasa.gov.