Strauss's Blue Danube Waltz has finally made it into space, nearly fifty years after it failed to fly on NASA's Voyager twin spacecraft.
On Saturday, the European Space Agency's large radio antenna in Spain transmitted a waltz into space.
Operators have trained an antenna on Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth at more than 15 billion miles.
The music, traveling at the speed of light, was expected to reach Voyager 1 within 23 hours.
The Vienna Symphony Orchestra performed “The Blue Danube” during a space broadcast that was actually a recording of a rehearsal.
The event is part of a year-long celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss, who was born in Vienna in 1825.
Strauss's launch into space also marks the 50th anniversary of ESA's founding.
Both Voyagers, launched in 1977 and now in interstellar space, carry a Golden Record of music, but do not have any recordings by Strauss.
Its “Blue Danube” has special significance for space enthusiasts, as it was featured in Stanley Kubrick's 1968 science fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Sourse: breakingnews.ie
