The Zune , Microsoft ’s go wrong digital music player from the early 2000s , is getting a second chance on instrument panel the International Space Station ( ISS ) , after do cameos in Guardians of the Galaxy 2 and other Marvel movies . Microsoft and its collaborators are planning to resuscitate the splendidly doomed gadget through 3D - printing technology .
Microsoft has partner with aerospace producer Redwire to 3D print a Microsoft Zune on the ISS , Redwire recentlyannounced . The Zune player made a rare appearance at the end of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol . 2 as the butt of a joke — a nostalgic admonisher of the piffling music thespian that could n’t . Microsoft launched Zune in 2006 , five class after Apple let on the innovational iPod . unluckily , Microsoft ’s own digital music player could not compete with the iPod , and it was discontinued six geezerhood after its unveiling .
In the movie , Chris Pratt ’s character , Star Lord , upgrades his music - listening machine from a walkman to a Zune , a spit in impertinence reference to the now - outdated ( always - outdated ? ) digital actor . “ It ’s what everybody ’s mind to on Earth nowadays , ” Star Lord says of his first - generation Zune . Of course , Star Lord ’s last computer storage of Earth was during the 1970s , so the Zune would unfeignedly have been a game changer for him .

Gif: Microsoft/Gizmodo
Star Lord still relies on Microsoft ’s Zune in the third serial publication of the popular motion picture dealership , with the convenience also seem by his side in Avengers : Infinity War and Avengers : Endgame .
With thelatest movie in the serieshitting theaters this week , Microsoft to the full adopt Zune ’s reputation and found an entirewebsitededicated to its gadgetary floating-point operation . The website also boast a scant advertising in which the Guardians of the Galaxy superheroes pay a short visit to the ISS , with a space place cosmonaut reach the fictional superhero Star Lord a raw Zune to put back his broken in unit .
Zune ’s website point to raise STEAM ( skill , technology , engineering , artwork and mathematics ) instruction among students , creating different space - theme activities on the website for young explorers . As part of its campaign , Microsoft will be using Redwire ’s Additive Manufacturing Facility on board theISS National Labto 3D print its asleep gadget .

The mission patch, featuring Rocket and Cosmo.Image: Redwire
“ infinite is critical to invigorate next generation , ” Mike Gold , Redwire ’s master increase police officer , said in astatement . “ Redwire is proud to impart together our own super hero team with Microsoft and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol . 3 to help cultivate and inspire educatee in the real humans to pursue careers in STEAM . ”
For those of you hoping to see a fully functional building block come out of that 3D printer , you may be in for a dashing hopes . In reply to a Gizmodo query , a Redwire interpreter substantiate that the company will devise a mockup of the Zune on board the ISS . “ It will not be playing any music , ” the representative explain in an email . “ This print is a creature , and this project is helping us leverage the excitement of the liberation of the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 3 picture , as an opportunity to mesh a new audience who loves scientific discipline fiction and have them get to bonk more about the real science that happens on the ISS , including 3D printing . ”
The commemorative mission descend with a refined patch , featuring Rocket and Cosmo from the Marvel movie , in addition to the Zune and ISS . And on that banknote , this is n’t the first prison term the Guardians of the Galaxy enfranchisement has made an appearance on the ISS . In 2016 , Marvel designed theISS patchto let in the flick ’s favorite duo Rocket and Groot as space change of location enthusiasts .

For more space travel in your life , follow us onTwitterand bookmark Gizmodo ’s dedicatedSpaceflight Sir Frederick Handley Page .
Chris PrattFictioniPodMicrosoftMicrosoft KinStar - Lord
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