European Space Agency Transmits Strauss’s ‘Blue Danube’ to NASA’s Twin Voyagers - A Concert in Space

For decades, music has been filling the gaps in our society. In today’s era, music has also followed us into space. From Beatles beats echoing through NASA transmissions to soundtracks tucked aboard interstellar probes, our music is becoming famous in space as well. Now, another iconic piece is preparing to join that stellar symphony. On May 31, 2025, Johann Strauss II’s ‘Blue Danube’ waltz will be broadcast into deep space by the European Space Agency (ESA), in collaboration with the Vienna Tourist Board, as per NPR.

Norbert Kettner from the Vienna Tourist Board shared, "The absence of the most famous of all waltzes from the 1977 Voyager Golden Record is a cosmic mistake," according to NPR. Fast forward to this day, almost 50 years later, ESA aims to fix that mistake. The waltz, immortalized in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film '2001: A Space Odyssey,' famously accompanied a space station docking scene. Although it has long been culturally associated with space, it was never included on NASA’s Voyager Golden Record, which carried 27 tracks into the cosmos aboard Voyager 1 and 2.

Intriguingly, Mozart made the cut, but Strauss did not, an omission many felt left a gap in the representation of Earth’s musical legacy. To right this wrong, ESA will beam ‘Blue Danube’ into the stars using its huge 35-meter-wide deep-space antenna in Cebreros, Spain. This is part of ESA’s Estrack network, which typically supports uncrewed scientific missions such as BepiColombo, JUICE, and Mars Express. But on May 31, it will momentarily turn its attention from planets to performance, broadcasting a high-fidelity version of Strauss’s waltz directly toward Voyager 1, now over 15 billion miles from Earth, as per the BBC.

An important point to note is that the Vienna Symphony Orchestra will deliver a live performance at 20:30 CEST, with the final rehearsal recording being converted into an electromagnetic signal for space transmission at 21:30. The signal, travelling at the speed of light, will pass the Moon in 1.5 seconds, Mars in 4.5 minutes, Jupiter in 37 minutes, and reach Voyager 1 in just 23 hours. Moreover, Josef Aschbacher, ESA director general, remarked, "This demonstrates that our technology can transmit not only scientific data but also human art over long distances… The European Space Agency is pleased to share the stage with Johann Strauss II and open the imaginations of future space scientists and explorers who may one day journey to the anthem of space,” as per the BBC.

Octave Procope-Mamert, who oversees ESA’s ground infrastructure, added, "Sending a work of musical genius to the stars highlights the technical genius that we apply every day in flying and communicating with European missions discovering new knowledge throughout the Solar System," as per the BBC. The initiative also commemorates three major anniversaries: the 50th year of ESA’s founding, 20 years since the Cebreros antenna became operational, and the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss II — the "Waltz King."