CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In a remarkable tribute to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Johann Strauss II's birth, the iconic waltz “Blue Danube” will embark on a cosmic journey this month. The classical masterpiece, performed by the prestigious Vienna Symphony Orchestra, will be beamed into space on May 31. This celestial event will also mark the 50th anniversary of the European Space Agency (ESA), offering a unique blend of culture and science.
The event will be livestreamed with free public screenings in major cities such as Vienna, Madrid, and New York. Although the music could theoretically be transmitted in real time, ESA officials have opted to relay a pre-recorded version captured during the orchestra’s rehearsal the day prior. This precaution is taken to avoid any potential technical issues that could impede this historic transmission. The live performance will serve as a stunning accompaniment to the recorded piece.
The radio signals carrying the melodious notes of “Blue Danube” will travel at the incredible speed of light, approximately 670 million mph (over 1 billion kph). This means that the music will reach the moon in just 1.5 seconds, Mars in 4.5 minutes, Jupiter in 37 minutes, and Neptune in four hours. Remarkably, within 23 hours of transmission, the signals will reach a distance equivalent to that of NASA's Voyager 1, the farthest human-made object from Earth, currently over 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) away in interstellar space.
This isn’t NASA’s first foray into sending music into the cosmos. In 2008, the agency celebrated its own 50th anniversary by transmitting The Beatles’ “Across the Universe” directly into deep space. More recently, in 2022, NASA sent Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” toward Venus. Additionally, music has flowed from other planets back to Earth; in 2012, NASA's Curiosity rover relayed a recording of will.i.am’s “Reach for the Stars” back to our planet.
These deep-space transmissions differ significantly from the melodies that have been streamed between NASA’s Mission Control and orbiting crews since the mid-1960s. Now, it is finally Strauss’ turn to take his place among the stars, rectifying an oversight that occurred nearly half a century ago. While NASA's twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft, launched in 1977, carry the famous Golden Records containing a curated selection of Earth's sounds and music, Strauss’ “Blue Danube” was notably absent from this historic compilation.
The tourist board in Vienna, where Strauss was born on October 25, 1825, aims to amend this “cosmic mistake” by sending what is often regarded as “the most famous of all waltzes” into the vastness of space. The transmission will be facilitated by ESA’s large radio antenna located in Spain, part of the agency’s deep-space network, which will be directed towards Voyager 1, ensuring that “Blue Danube” is sent on its way.
“Music connects us all through time and space in a very particular way,” commented ESA’s director general Josef Aschbacher. He expressed the agency's excitement to join forces with Johann Strauss II, inspiring future generations of space scientists and explorers who may one day journey among the stars accompanied by this timeless anthem of space. This event not only celebrates a musical legacy but also reinforces the profound bond between art and science, inviting everyone to dream of the possibilities that lie beyond our planet.
