Big news in the bagpipe world. Piper, Bruce Woodley, hopes to be the first person to play bagpipes in space. From Scotland On Sunday…
Woodley has become one of 16 finalists chosen by the Canadian Space Agency from 5,000 applicants, who were competing to represent the country in NASA space missions, including flights to the International Space Station.
God bless Canada. In all the years that we’ve been sending up these space missions, we have never sent a bagpiper; not once! It is long overdue. This is the kind of thing Neil Armstrong had in mind when he invoked the phrase; “Giant leap for mankind”.
Woodley says…
“I think it would be great fun to play bagpipes in space,”…
…”It might be a challenge to get a set of bagpipes ’space certified’ from the point of view of flammability,” he said. “Also, launch costs are high to the space station, thus weight might also need to be reduced to be practical for this purpose.”…
…”The space station and shuttle are pressurised to 14.7 psi (standard sea level pressure), but the shuttle also has the capability to operate at a reduced pressure – about 10.5 psi I think – for reasons related to spacewalks.
“I believe the Apollo spacecraft were all about 4 psi cabin pressure, or about 32,000 feet above sea level – in 100% oxygen environment. I’m guessing it would be very difficult to play bagpipes and have them sound like anything we hear on the ground without redesign.”
Flammability? Launch costs? Reduced pressure? Redesign!!??
C’mon! This isn’t rocket science. We can send dogs to space. We can tool around in recreational vehicles on the moon. If we can’t figure out a way to let this guy rip out a shredding bagpipe solo then what, I ask you, have we truly accomplished with all of this?
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