''Space Night'' (full title: ''space night - All-tag nachts'') is a German television program in the early night/morning hours each day. It is a mixture of chill-out-music and images of the Earth as seen from space interspersed with informative broadcasts. It was started by the

Bayerischer Rundfunk (; "Bavarian Broadcasting"), shortened to BR (), is a public broadcasting, public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Bavaria, Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD (b ...

(BR) in 1994 and is now broadcast by

ARD-alpha ARD alpha is a German free-to-air television channel run by regional public-service broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk. Its programming consists of shows made by Bayerischer Rundfunk, as well as from ARD and Austrian broadcaster ORF. The channel ...

Structure

''Space Night''s structure consists of several different sub-programs. In any given month, on any given weekday, the programs will be the same. In the next month, the programs will change, but again stay the same for the same weekdays. There are no broadcasts during Friday and Saturday nights. ''Space Night'' itself does not have any opening or closing credits; only the sub-programs may do. Recognizing that a program is part of ''Space Night'' is done in two ways: # some programs will show a text overlay reading "space night" in the bottom right corner # there are no regular program forecasts injected between the programs during ''Space Night''. The sub-programs are never all part of any single ''Space Night''. Instead the programs from the beginning of a ''Space Night'' are repeated at the end, so that some episodes of a program may be broadcast twice during one ''Space Night''. If a program would continue to run longer than the ''Space Night'' itself, it will be interrupted in the middle. * Alpha-Centauri (science program by

BR-alpha ARD alpha is a German free-to-air television channel run by regional public-service broadcaster Bayerischer Rundfunk. Its programming consists of shows made by Bayerischer Rundfunk, as well as from ARD and Austrian broadcaster ORF. The channel ...

, presented by

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

Prof.

Harald Lesch Harald Lesch (born 28 July 1960) is a German physicist, astronomer, natural philosopher, author, television presenter, professor of physics at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU) and professor of natural philosophy at the Munich Un ...

) * Alpha bis Omega (''Alpha to Omega'') (discussions about theology between the physicist Harald Lesch and the

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

Thomas Schwartz. This program is almost only broadcast during Space Night itself) * Die Erde erwacht (''The Earth awakes'') (Pictures of cities and their inhabitants' doings during morning time; no audio comments) * Earth Views (Satellite pictures of several Earth regions with interruptions by

computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating Film, moving images. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both still images and moving images, while computer animation refers to moving images. Virtu ...

s; no audio comments but

music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

; total of ten episodes) * Jazz in Space (pictures from space; no audio comments but

Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

music) * Lesch & Co. (discussions between the physicist Harald Lesch and his colleague Wilhelm Vossenkuhl about

philosophy Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

) * Moonwalks (pictures of excursions across the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

) * Space Art (

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

s from the art genre called

Space Art Space art, also known as astronomical art, is a genre of art that Visual representation, visually depicts the universe through various Style (visual arts), artistic styles. It may also refer to Work of art, artworks sent into Outer space, space. ...

; no audio comments but music; some episodes do not have the text overlay "space night" but "space art" instead) * Space Cowboys (pictures of missions of

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

's programs

Project Mercury Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States, running from 1958 through 1963. An early highlight of the Space Race, its goal was to put a man into Earth orbit and return him safely, ideally before the Soviet Un ...

Project Gemini Project Gemini () was the second United States human spaceflight program to fly. Conducted after the first American crewed space program, Project Mercury, while the Apollo program was still in early development, Gemini was conceived in 1961 and ...

and

Apollo program The Apollo program, also known as Project Apollo, was the United States human spaceflight program led by NASA, which Moon landing, landed the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Apollo followed Project Mercury that put the first Americans in sp ...

; no audio comments but music; additional text overlay showing information about each mission like the starting day, crew info, name of modules, duration, special notes, etc.) * Was sucht der Mensch im Weltraum? (''What does man seek in space?'') (rerun of the 1968 television series featuring

Heinz Haber Heinz Haber (May 15, 1913 in Mannheim – February 13, 1990 in Hamburg) was a German physicist and science writer who primarily became known for his TV programs and books about physics and environmental subjects. His lucid style of explainin ...

) * Waternight (pictures of

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in group ...

s; no audio comments but music) * New Frontiers (stations on the way to the

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is a large space station that was Assembly of the International Space Station, assembled and is maintained in low Earth orbit by a collaboration of five space agencies and their contractors: NASA (United ...

(Project Mercury, Project Gemini, Apollo-Program,

Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...

Mir ''Mir'' (, ; ) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, first by the Soviet Union and later by the Russia, Russian Federation. ''Mir'' was the first modular space station and was assembled in orbit from 1986 to ...

); no audio comment but

electro music Electro (also known as electro-funk, and sometimes referred to as electro-pop)
Gl ...

)

History

''Space Night'' started in 1994 as a replacement of the

test card A test card, also known as a test pattern or start-up/closedown test, is a television test signal, typically broadcast at times when the transmitter is active but no program is being broadcast (often at sign-on and sign-off). Used since the ear ...

s which were broadcast on BR at night until this time. The idea originated in the fact that the German satellite ASTRO-SPAS (see

STS-80 STS-80 was a Space Shuttle mission flown by Space Shuttle Columbia, Space Shuttle ''Columbia''. The launch was originally scheduled for October 31, 1996, but was delayed to November 19 for several reasons. Likewise, the landing, which was origin ...

) had recorded many hours of video footage in space. The BR received this footage, edited the material and added

downtempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

spherical music. As BR did not want to show the same pictures 7 days a week, both

and

ESA The European Space Agency (ESA) is a 23-member international organization devoted to space exploration. With its headquarters in Paris and a staff of around 2,547 people globally as of 2023, ESA was founded in 1975 in the context of European ...

as well as the

German Aerospace Center The German Aerospace Center (, abbreviated DLR, literally ''German Center for Air- and Space-flight'') is the national center for aerospace, energy and transportation research of Germany, founded in 1969. It is headquartered in Cologne with 3 ...

were addressed. They offered more hours of footage from in and around space, which were thus included.

Cult status and music

The broadcast quickly turned into a

cult Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term ...

: At

rave A rave (from the verb: '' to rave'') is a dance party at a warehouse, club, or other public or private venue, typically featuring performances by DJs playing electronic dance music. The style is most associated with the early 1990s dance mus ...

s in the mid-1990s it wasn't unusual to show the images of Space Night on big TV-screens. Early in the morning after the rave it was often used to calm down, especially from 1996 and later, as Space Night's sound changed through the musical guidance by Alex Azary (a European chill-out-DJ), who provided a more electronic background music. This was a logical step that originated from Alex Azary. He headed the Club XS in Frankfurt where "chill out nights" started in 1990, supported by spherical music. Alongside, pictures of ''Space Night'' were shown, albeit the playback was a little bit slower than in the original program. The images did fit well to the then new music-genre and Alex thought it would be a good idea to show it to the people at BR. A meeting in

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

followed where he could convince them to try something new. A few years later, individual songs were created by

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

Marc Engelhard. The compositions are also available as separate CDs, the mixdown starting from the album ''Space Night II'' is done by the German music label Elektrolux. In the meantime, twelve CD-albums with music to the television series have been published, with three of those clearly differing in musical style. While ''Space Night Vol. 1'' is an album featuring

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

, ''Space Night Vol. 10'' features Jazz music and ''Space Night Vol. 12'' is a double CD with

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. A DVD titled ''Best of Earth-Views'' is also available.

Problems

After a change in tariffs by the GEMA, BR stated they would not want to continue Space Night starting in January 2013, due to the drastically increased

royalties A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or ...

. Hence the series was ended on January 8, 2013. Numerous viewers engaged BR to continue Space Night by using GEMA-free music. The station decided to undo the cancellation, first by rerunning older episodes starting on February 25, 2013 and to later broadcast new episodes starting in autumn of 2013. To accomplish this, BR will use music with

Creative Commons Creative Commons (CC) is an American non-profit organization and international network devoted to educational access and expanding the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally and to share. The organization has release ...

licensing, encouraging their viewer to upload their favorites. The restart was scheduled for November 1, 2013. It had to be postponed to November, 15th, because

was not able to provide the necessary graphical material, due to the

2013 United States federal government shutdown From October 1 to October 17, 2013, the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government entered a Government shutdown in the United States, shutdown and curtailed most routine operations because neither Appropriations b ...

Special broadcasts

Moon landing

On the 25th anniversary of the first human landing on the Moon the original version of the broadcast of the ARD was shown at the exact time of the original airing.

Perry Rhodan

On the 40th anniversary of the

Perry Rhodan ''Perry Rhodan'' is a German space opera franchise, named after its hero. It commenced in 1961 and has been ongoing for decades, written by an ever-changing team of authors. Having sold approximately two billion copies (in novella format) worl ...

series in 2001 there was a "Perry Rhodan-Space Night".

Cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ar ...

by the artist Johnny Bruck (who produced the cover artwork for Perry Rhodan) was shown with modern techniques to animate still pictures, there were galaxies, planets, spaceplanes, men and aliens - a visual journey through the Perry Rhodan universe with the familiar music of Space Night. Following the broadcast, which was repeated for several weeks, a DVD with the title ''Space Night presents: Perry Rhodan 40th Anniversary - Special Sci-Fi Edition'' and a double album with the music was created.

External links

Space Night homepage
(German)
Space Night at the Internet Movie Database

(German)

References

{{reflist German music television series Educational television 1994 German television series debuts 1990s German television series 2000s German television series 2010s German television series German-language television shows Das Erste original programming Bayerischer Rundfunk Interstitial television shows