<P> Music in space is music played in or broadcast from a spacecraft in outer space . According to the Smithsonian Institution, the first musical instruments played in outer space were an 8 - note Hohner "Little Lady" harmonica and a handful of small bells carried by American astronauts Wally Schirra and Thomas P. Stafford aboard Gemini 6A . Upon achieving a space rendezvous in Earth orbit with their sister ship Gemini 7 in December 1965, Schirra and Stafford played a rendition of "Jingle Bells" over the radio after jokingly claiming to have seen an unidentified flying object piloted by Santa Claus . The instruments had been smuggled on - board without NASA's knowledge, leading Mission Control director Elliot See to exclaim "You're too much" to Schirra after the song . The harmonica was donated to the Smithsonian by Schirra in 1967, with his note that it "...plays quite well". </P> <P> In the 1970s music tape cassettes were brought to the American space station Skylab, while Soviet cosmonauts Aleksandr Laveikin and Yuri Romanenko brought a guitar to the space station Mir in 1987 . Musical instruments must be checked for gases they may emit before being taken aboard the confined environment of a space station . As of 2003, instruments that have been aboard the International Space Station include a flute, a keyboard guitar, a saxophone, and a didgeridoo . </P>

What was the first song to be played in outer space