___I think the NASA shuttle mission broadcasts over real audio are at once beautiful and mundane. The texture of the broadcast is crackily and marked, totally facilitating the experience. In between the emotion of "T minus 10" and "Touchdown" are endless instructions passed between land and sky throughout the long night. If the astronauts don’t speak for a long time, I feel that I am the focus of the ground crew's concentrations… falling asleep in the comforting stream of switching manoeuvers for the onboard computer. The recent STS-91 mission marked the end of the US participation in the Russian space station Mir, but really the end of an era. There was great emotion in convivial meetings, and so docking and embarking became cultural events, full of humour and ritual.

___Lately the content of the broadcasts has changed. There is often a man with a brash voice, and he appears to be speaking over the space-earth communiques, or worst still censoring them. In this way, the broadcasts are mediated twice, by radio technology and by someone with an agenda. I should add that previously this voice belonged to a man and a woman that took great pleasure in facilitating virtual presence with simple details. I have included examples of both kinds of approach in the "docking" sequence.

___So NASA appears to be capitalizing on its massive audience with a bit of a patriotic spin. The context is becoming commercial whilst the content preaches the appliance of science. The TV anchorman voice is designed to appeal, the problem is that audiences are distanced from the ramifications of science activity - and the fun.

___What happens in the future remains to be seen: internet broadcast is the next big thing, and new structures are being rolled out in all directions. I wait with baited breath whilst copyright issues are resolved and NASA TV settles down, hopefully redefining the televisual experience rather than using an out-dated construct.

___2. Acknowledgements

___This work could not have been realised without the support of Radioqualia, Eastside Radio, mr.snow and Zofia and Alik Kaye.

___ Many of the sound samples come from my record collection, the internet, and from field recordings of various spaces. In making this piece I have the feeling that I am at odds with the authors of some copyrighted pieces. I support the artists featured in the sense that I am a DJ, remixing sounds into the flow, and their work is fantastic and is a tool. Although the utmost effort has gone into connecting with anybody I can think of, if you feel like I've used your music unfairly, please write to me. I do believe that we are at a turning point in the broadcast of internet sound. Lets not get into a fight about record companies and receipts. Lets not get legislated into oblivion!

___3. Technical information

___You need to have a real audio player installed on your machine to hear the sound. This is a free tool and is available in common browser flavours. Er, you also need a sound card.

___Record Collection:

Black Dog, Ken Ishi, H. Hafiz kani Karaca, Kenny Larkin, Ben Neill, Oval, Seefeel, U. Srinivus.