(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
A Very Special Blue Danube beamed into space from Vienna by ESA [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2025-05-31
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, the European Space Agency (ESA) held a special performance of Johann Strauss II's 'Blue Danube' today in Vienna and beamed part of the concert live into space in the direction of the venerable Voyager 1 spacecraft.
The concert was performed by the prestigious Wiener Symphoniker (Vienna Symphony Orchestra) at the magnificent halls of the MAK (Museum of Applied Arts) in Vienna.
The transmission was carried out by ESA’s Deep Space Antenna DSA 2, located in Cebreros, Spain.
The event started at 20:30 CEST (14:30 EDT) and the transmission occurred a hour later.
23 hours 4 minutes and 1 second after transmission, the signal with the embedded music will overtake Voyager 1, sail on and carry a part of our heritage and culture towards a distant undiscovered civilization, hopefully to a world that is more cultured and civilized than ours.
x 📡Our antenna is getting into position. Our station engineers are pointing the antenna towards Voyager. — ESA Operations (@operations.esa.int) 2025-05-31T19:07:56.188Z
Why Johann Strauss II's Blue Danube? You know the answer. The music is inextricably linked with space and space exploration, thanks to Stanley Kubrick’s masterpiece “2001: A Space Odyssey.”
Coincidentally, the year 2025 marks the 20th anniversary of the 'Cebreros' space antenna and also the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss II.
Curiously, the famous Golden Record aboard the twin Voyager spacecraft did not include The Blue Danube.
Let’s enjoy this moment and recharge for the challenges that lie ahead in thee trying times.
Further Reading:
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2025/5/31/2325296/-A-Very-Special-Blue-Danube-beamed-into-space-from-Vienna-by-ESA?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=more_community&pm_medium=web
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
