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Paul McCartney Awakens Alum
Paul McCartney Awakens Alum

Astronaut Bill McArthur, MS 83, and Russian cosmonaut Valery Tokarev, aboard the International Space Station 220 miles above Earth, got a wake-up call from former Beatle Paul McCartney Nov 13.

McCartney, performing a live concert in Anaheim, Calif., linked to the spacecraft and played "Good Day Sunshine" and "English Tea."

McCartney learned the Beatles classic "Good Day Sunshine" was played as a wake-up call in August for the space shuttle Discovery's crew because of a favorable weather forecast for landing that morning. He asked if he could perform the song live for the space station crew.

"I can't believe that we're actually transmitting to space," McCartney told the astronauts. "This is sensational. I love it."

McArthur and Tokarev boarded the space station in October for a six-month stay. They are the 12th crew to occupy the station since the program began in 2000.

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