Please Note: This is an archived blog post from September 23, 2011. For more recent updates, view the latest REMIX news, Agency case studies or homepage

Next time a text message pops up on your phone, have Neil Armstrong tell you about it.

“The Eagle has landed.”

NASA recently made historic sound bites available on its website to be downloaded to cellphones or computers as ringtones, alarms and notifications.

The sound files run the gamut from the familiar “Houston, we’ve had a problem” on the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission to the other-worldly radio emissions of the planet Saturn.

“NASA has been making historic sounds for over 50 years,” Jerry Colen, NASA App project manager at the agency’s Ames Research Center, said in statement. “Now we’re making some of these memorable sounds easy to find and use.”

The NASA sounds are available in MP3 format, which play on smartphones and computers. The space agency also made them available on the iPhone-compatible M4R files. NASA said they will continuously update the collection as new sounds become available.

Mobile content seems another way forward to close the gap between the Nasa brand and American voters. This is an interesting case of a government funded organization engaging with ‘customers’ through experiential, digital content which eventually can even be a source of revenue.  I think if Nasa can do it, museums can do it too!