Jack launches bid to play first vinyl record in space

Details of Jack White’s cosmic world record attempt have been confirmed: on Saturday, Third Man Records will bid to play the first vinyl record in space.

Following rumours of White’s astral ambitions, on Monday Third Man published a blog outlining plans to celebrate its seventh anniversary by playing a gold-plated 12-inch master of Carl Sagan’s A Glorious Dawn in orbit. The selection is described as “a moving arrangement of Sagan’s sagacious words, culled from his magnificent Cosmos series, previously pressed and distributed as a seven-inch in [Third Man’s] first year of operation, 2009”, and was chosen because it was the label’s three millionth record pressed.

It will be played via The Icarus Craft, a custombuilt “space-proof” turntable attached to a highaltitude balloon designed by Kevin Carrico, who is responsible for assisting in the restoration of many of Third Man’s machines. Non-profit programme Satins — Students and Teachers in Near Space — will also assist with the mission.

To mark the occasion, Third Man will host parties at both its Cass Corridor and Nashville locations, in which fans can witness the mission, watch live bands and get hold of limited edition gold vinyl copies of the record. The launch will also be streamed online.

This is Third Man founder White’s latest world record attempt: in 2014 he recorded the fastestreleased record with the song Lazaretto, while the album of the same name holds the record for most first-week vinyl sales since 1991.