Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP) – Strauss’ “Blue Danube” is set to journey into space this month, marking the 200th anniversary of The Birth of the King Waltz.
Classic masterpieces will be Illuminated in the cosmos as performed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The celestial event on May 31 will be live-streamed with free public screenings in Vienna, Madrid, and New York, also celebrating the European Space Agency, which was founded 50 years ago.
According to staff, music can be transmitted as radio signals in real-time; however, the ESA will air a pre-recorded version from the orchestra rehearsal the prior day to prevent technical difficulties. The live performance will provide the accompaniment.
Radio signals travel at the speed of light, an astounding 670 million miles (over 1 billion kph).
This means the music will reach the Moon in about an hour and a half, Mars in 4.5 minutes, Jupiter in 37 minutes, and Neptune in 4 hours. Within 23 hours, the signal will be as far from Earth as NASA’s Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft, surpassing 15 billion miles (24 billion kilometers) in interstellar space.
NASA also commemorated the 50th anniversary in 2008 by sending “Across the Universe” by The Beatles directly into deep space. Last year, they beamed Missy Elliott’s “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” toward Venus.
Music is traveling from another planet back to Earth, made possible by NASA’s Mars Rover. In 2012, flight controllers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California transmitted a recording of Will.i.am’s “Reach for the Stars,” which the Rover broadcasted.
All these transmissions are a stark contrast to the continuous music streaming between NASA mission control and crews, a practice ongoing since the mid-1960s.
Now it is Strauss’ moment after being excluded from the Voyager Golden Records nearly half a century ago.
Released in 1977, NASA’s twin Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft each carry gold-plated copper gramophones, complete with stylus and instructions for playback.
The record includes sounds and images from Earth, alongside 90 minutes of music. The late astronomer Carl Sagan led a committee that chose pieces from composers like Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, and Stravinsky, including selections from contemporary and indigenous artists.
Among those omitted was Johann Strauss II, whose “Blue Danube” graced Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 science fiction classic “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
The Vienna Tourism Bureau, where Strauss was born on October 25, 1825, aims to rectify this “cosmic oversight” by sending “the most famous waltz of all” to the stars.
ESA’s large radio antenna in Spain, part of the space agency’s deep space network, will facilitate this honor. The dish is oriented towards Voyager 1, allowing “Blue Danube” to reach its destination.
“Music connects us across time and space in a profoundly unique way,” said ESA Director Joseph Ashbacher in a statement. “The European Space Agency collaborates with Johann Strauss II to inspire future space scientists and explorers who will one day journey to the anthem of the cosmos.”
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Source: apnews.com