NASA sets contest for final Endeavour wake-up call

Sinatra has been there. So have Elton John, Madonna and the Beatles. Could Brian Plunkett be next?

Plunkett’s song "Dreams You Give" is one of 10 finalists for the wake-up music to be played for the crew of the space shuttle Endeavour on their final day in space on what is scheduled to be Endeavour’s final mission.

Although music has been played for astronauts since the Gemini program in the mid-1960s, for the first time NASA has decided to play an original song, voted on by the public, to wake up a crew.

Plunkett, a 40-year-old information technology manager from Missouri, hopes Cmdr. Mark Kelly and his five-member crew will be hearing his song on their final day before returning to Earth.

"We are pretty surprised and excited," Plunkett told CNN during a phone interview.

NASA says that 1,350 songs were submitted from over 60 countries.

Plunkett said he wanted to be a part of the contest because his two sons are so interested in the space program. Both sons, Joseph, 13, and Loren, 10, sing vocals on Dad’s contest entry.

The family traveled from Halfway, Missouri, a tiny town just north of Springfield, to see the launch of shuttle Discovery in Florida on its final mission in February, Plunkett said.

"NASA and the shuttle program inspire young people and gives them something to strive for," he said.

Another finalist is Sharon Riddell, a 68-year-old aspiring songwriter/singer from Nashville. She said her "Countdown Blues" was written after she went to Florida to watch a launch and it kept getting delayed.

"My song is dedicated to all the astronauts, their families and friends and all of the support crews who have lived this song," she told CNN.