One-of-a-kind Starfleet USB drive packed with music and carried into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard
A Starfleet USB drive filled with music and carried into space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard will be auctioned by Boston-based RR Auction.
The one-of-a-kind 4GB USB drive shaped like Star Trek’s Starfleet emblem, carried by Chris Boshuizen on Blue Origin’s NS-18 mission, also known as the Second Human Flight (2HF), on October 13, 2021.
Boshuizen traveled with William Shatner, Glen de Vries, and Audrey Powers on the sub-orbital spaceflight aboard the New Shepard launch vehicle.
The drive contains a “Songs to Space” folder with 400 .mp3 and .wav files submitted to Boshuizen—who performs under the name Dr Chrispy—by musicians worldwide. The project took off when Boshuizen made a Reddit post asking fellow music creators to submit tracks for him to carry into space—soon, he was getting a new song every two minutes. After a few days of submissions, he loaded the playlist onto the Star Trek USB key—purchased specifically for the project—and brought it with him to Blue Origin’s Launch Site One at Corn Ranch in Texas. During the flight, the USB drive was stowed in Boshuizen’s 1.5kg cargo pack.
Boshuizen’s ‘Songs to Space’ project was mentioned on Blue Origin’s webcast stream of the flight just after they landed, though the video is more famous for William Shatner’s discussion of the ‘overview effect’ he experienced while viewing the Earth from space.
Boshuizen also discusses the project in his post, ‘i took your songs to space!,’ on the Dr Chrispy blog.
Accompanying the USB drive is a signed Blue Origin certificate of flight, certifying that the item flew above the Karman line, the internationally-recognized boundary of space. Also included are the official mission patch for the NS-18 Mission and a Dr Chrispy guitar pick, both flown in space. An assortment of Blue Origin stickers from Dr. Boshuizen’s personal collection round out the lot.
The proceeds from this lot will be donated to Musack, whose mission is to give kids and teens a voice through music by providing guitars, drums, and support for music teachers. Club for the Future has agreed to match funds up to $5,000.
Online bidding for the Space Exploration by RR Auction began March 10 and will conclude April 21. For more information, go to www.rrauction.com.
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