Public Service Broadcasting – The Other Side

I got home from work today and my daughter was watching the livestream of the Artemis II from NASA as it was about to go around the back of the moon. I heard the astronaut say, “see you on the other side” and told my daughter that’s the same thing they said during the Apollo 8 mission that went around the back of the moon! I only know that because of this song.

All of the space race happened either before I was born or when I was very young so I have no memory of any of it. Of course it’s not like I didn’t know anything about it, and there was still the whole space shuttle program, but I didn’t know anything about Apollo 8 and the mission to enter into lunar orbit back in 1968.

So during the loss of signal (LOS) of Artemis II, I played this song for my daughter. I have to wonder if the crew knew this song and played it at some point during the day.

Public Service Broadcasting is playing a Race for Space anniversary show in London at the end of September. It’s at Alexandra Palace, a 10,000 seat venue, so I figured it wouldn’t sell out and I’d have plenty of time to try and figure out if I could swing a trip to catch the show. I had to skip their appearance in New York back in December when I whacked my head on a metal bar and had first a giant goose egg on my forehead, and then some spectacular black eyes. The band was promoting the Ally Pally show as something really over the top and I felt like it would make up for my missed show if I could pull it off. But it sold out! In less than three days! I understand they are way more popular in England and that this is their biggest album, but their shows in the US are still club shows so I hadn’t expected to get shut out. I’ve put myself on the waitlist so I’ll hear if they release some late tickets. Fingers crossed!

Anyway, if ever there was an occasion to listen to this song, this is it.