Earlier this month, Missy Elliott reached uncharted territory when she became the first rapper with music to be heard in space. NASA announced that their Deep Space Network successfully transmitted Elliott’s 1997 song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” from Earth to Venus at the speed of light. It marks the first time a hip-hop song has made the 158-million-mile trek.
"I chose Venus because it symbolizes strength, beauty and empowerment and I am so humbled to have the opportunity to share my art and my message with the universe," Elliott said in a statement.
The song was transmitted across 158 million miles (254 million kilometers) at the speed of light by NASA's DSN (Deep Space Network) and the journey took about 14 minutes to complete. Elliott's song is only the second song to be transmitted in such a method. The first occurred in 2008, when NASA's Deep Space Network sent the Beatles' "Across the Universe" toward Polaris, the North Star.
“Both space exploration and Missy Elliott’s art have been about pushing boundaries,” said Brittany Brown, director of the Digital and Technology Division, Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington, who initially pitched ideas to Missy’s team to collaborate with the agency.”
Although Elliott’s and the Beatles’ songs have been the only ones transmitted into deep space, music has been launched into outer space before. According to NASA, "The Sounds of Earth," also known as the "Golden Record," was sent into space on the Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft in 1977 as part of a message "intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials.
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