Empty Sky (Solo for Ron McNair)

Jean Michel Jarre’s vinyl album Rendez-Vous, light box, light. 12.75″× 12.75″× 6.5″/ 2012

In 1985, French music producer and performer Jean Michel Jarre was scoring and preparing to record tracks for his upcoming album of electronic Instrumental music Rendez-Vous. Jean had asked his friend, physicist and saxophonist Ron McNair, to record a solo for the album.

Ron was an astronaut, and having been on previous space flights, he had planned a way to record his solo while in orbit in space on his next mission. Additionally, another solo from Ron was to be broadcast live from space, while Jen performed at a huge outdoor concert Rendez-Vous Houston in Houston, Texas in April 1986.

The solos never occurred as Ron’s flight aboard the space shuttle Challenger came to an abrupt end when it exploded into debris 73 seconds after launch on January 28, 1986 at 11:36 AM.

Jean went on to record and finish Rendez-Vous, dedicating the album, and the subsequent Rendez-Vous tour, to Ron and the Challenger crew. This physical record album of Rendez-Vous is pierced with the pattern of the starry sky over Kennedy Space Center the night of the Challenger launch, 12 hours after the shuttle explosion.