Leave it up to Jack White to not only create a record player capable of playing in near space, but also call the craft Icarus.

A vision of his for years, Jack White’s project was launched some 90 000 feet (28 km) into the Earth’s atmosphere this past weekend.

Song of choice? The highly apt musical mashup of late American astronomer Carl Sagan explaining the cosmos along with Stephen Hawking. It’s magical in itself, and now it’s the first vinyl record ever played in near space.

The record played for 80 minutes on repeat, before the balloon popped and sent the turntable back to Earth.

Jack White’s label, Third Man Records, took on the task and their electronic consultant Kevin Carrico was assisted by members of SATINS (Students and Teachers Near Space) to get the whole thing going. Carrico explained in a statement:

As you rise higher and higher into the thinning atmosphere, temperature and increasing vacuum (lack of air) can cause issues.

Vinyl has a rather low melting point (71 degrees Celsius), and without air to keep things cool, you could wind up with a lump of melted plastic on your hands if a record is exposed to the sun for too long.

Without air, things in direct sunlight can get very hot while things in shade can get very cold.

This constant expansion and contraction can physically distort a vinyl record rendering it unplayable.

To withstand those conditions, the turntable had to be designed to keep the vinyl cool, while the record had to be plated in gold to help keep the grooves from losing their shape.

Do you now get the Icarus reference? Genius. Check the short documentary on the project below:

[source:mashable]