Hello Earth Murmurings

[MATH TRIED ERR <METH@delphi.com>]

Hi!

All this debate about what's being said at the beginning of "Hello Earth" is
exceedingly amusing.  It's definitely "Columbia, travelling at 9 times the
speed of sound..."  I've never had any question about that since the very first
time I ever heard the song.  It's from audio of a launch of the Space Shuttle
Columbia from Cape Canaveral in Florida, probably around the time Kate was
putting the album together (Columbia was one of three Shuttles back at that
time, so she'd have a lot of launch audio to play with).

The next time a Shuttle launch takes place, if you have the opportunity to catch
it as it happens either on radio or television (an increasing rarity nowadays
since nobody seems to care about space programs any more), pay attention to
the Launch Control/Shuttle cockpit communications during the first minutes of
the flight.  Guaranteed you'll hear exactly the same exchange as is in the
beginning of "Hello Earth" within the first two minutes.

Meredith, currently visiting her parents 35 miles south of Cape Canaveral
meth@delphi.com