May 19, 2025

— A song chosen to be played as a wake up call for an astronaut and his crew on their trip to the moon has been re-recorded in celebration of its broadcast into space.

The Freddy Jones Band has released the "Artemis II Reimagined" and "Extended Moon" versions of "In a Daydream," a month after NASA's Mission Control in Houston radioed a segment of the the track to the Artemis II astronauts as their Day 3 wakeup song. The single is now available on all music streaming platforms.

"Some songs take on a life of their own... and some end up orbiting the moon," the band said in a social media post. "What started in 1993 found its way into space... and now we've brought it back down, reimagined, expanded, and alive in a whole new way. Turn it up. Drift a little. Stay a little longer in the dream."

The song, which includes the lyric "The sun is shining, to wake me up. No one around, just me and the sky," stuck a chord with Reid Wiseman long before he became a NASA astronaut or the commander of the first mission to return humans to the vicinity of the moon in more than 50 years.

"When I was deployed in the military I would listen to it every night before bed and it would fill me with joy," Wiseman, a captain and aviator in U.S. Navy, wrote in a May 15 post. "To honor my lifelong friends, I asked NASA to play this as one of our Artemis II wakeup songs and it filled my amazing crew with the same joy."

"Our little friend group text thread went crazy when [we] saw this special version this morning. So unbelievably cool!" he said.

The original "In a Daydream" was a track on the band's album "Waiting For the Night." The Artemis II Reimagined version is the second re-recording for the song, after a 30th anniversary edition in 2023. The band also filmed a new music video, which is cut with scenes from the mission that inspired it, and is taking pre-orders through the band's website for a limited run of "moon merch."

"It's the same spirit of the original, but with a fresh perspective, more atmospheric, a little more cinematic, kind of reflecting the scale and emotion of what we felt seeing it connected to space," said bassist Rich Ross of the remix in an interview with the music and gaming website MP3s and NPCs.

In a Daydream (Artemis II Reimagined). Click to enlarge in new window. (Freddy Jones Band)

"In a Daydream" was one of 10 songs broadcast by Mission Control during the 10-day Artemis II mission. Other tracks included "Green Light" by John Legend featuring André 3000, "Pink Pony Club" by Chappell Roan, "Under Pressure" by Queen and David Bowie and "Working Glass Heroes" by CeeLo Green.

"Apparently NASA's 'Artemis II' space crew chose my song "Working Class Heroes' (inspired by John Lennon of course) to use as their motivational music as they circle around the moon... Wow. This is amazing," wrote Green, reacting to his 2015 track being played as the mission's Day 9 wakeup song.

The individual artists were not notified in advance of their mission being used and learned of it at the same time as the public.

Mission specialist Christina Koch chose Young & Sick's cover of Passion Pit's "Sleepyhead" as the mission's first day song. Like the Freddy Jones Band, the performer (also known as Dutch artist Nick van Hofwegen) has celebrated with "Moon Joy"-inspired apparel offered through the Young & Sick website.

"It's almost been a month since my world got turned upside down and inside out. This happened when I learned that the coolest astronaut / moon orbiter / surfer / interstellar photographer Christina Koch selected my music to be played in space!" wrote Hofwegen on April 24. "Thank you for giving me this insane boost of inspiration, for encouraging me to never give up, for all the moon joy, and for making a wild and beautiful dream come true!"

The tradition of wakeup songs got its start during NASA's Gemini program in the mid-1960s but it did not really take hold until several missions into the Apollo missions to the moon. It became a staple of the space shuttle program, during which custom recordings and guest celebrity messages were not uncommon.

Wakeup songs mostly gave way to alarms on the International Space Station, where there has been a continuous human occupancy for more than 25 years. Artemis II was the first mission since July 2011 have a daily playlist.

"The idea that our music is part of America's journey to the moon — literally soundtracking a moment in human history — is incredibly humbling," said Marty Lloyd, lead vocals and guitar for the Freddy Jones Band, in a statement. "'In a Daydream' has always been about escape, reflection, and possibility... and now it's traveled farther than we ever could have imagined."