The European Space Agency (ESA) has sent a famous piece of classical music deep into space “for aliens” in a symbolic gesture to mark its 50th anniversary. Johann Strauss II’s The Blue Danube waltz, known for its flowing rhythm and ties to science fiction, was broadcast toward NASA’s Voyager 1 probe from the agency’s deep-space antenna in Cebreros, Spain.
Performed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the 15-minute musical transmission took place on Saturday, May 31. It also honored the 200th birthday of Strauss, born in 1825. The event was streamed live on ESA’s website, YouTube, and Instagram, allowing viewers worldwide to witness the moment music entered the interstellar void.
A 19th-century waltz becomes a space-bound message
The iconic waltz, known in its original German as “An der schönen blauen Donau” (“By the Beautiful Blue Danube”), includes more than 13,000 notes. It was composed by Strauss in 1866 to lift the spirits of the Viennese public after Austria’s loss in the Austro-Prussian War. The piece was inspired by a poem by Karl Isidor Beck that praised the beauty of the Danube River.
Mission accomplished! 🎯 A waltz makes history: #JohannStrauss’ Blue Danube is now floating through space as an electromagnetic wave – transmitted at the speed of light from @esa’s ground station in Cebreros, Spain. 🎶🚀#WaltzIntoSpace #Strauss2025 #ViennaNow pic.twitter.com/JSpqHnMCp6
— Vienna (@_vienna_info_) June 2, 2025
Though celebrated in concert halls for over 150 years, ‘The Blue Danube’ became part of space history through cinema. The waltz played during a visually striking scene in Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey, where a spacecraft docks with a space station.
The music, paired with the slow motion of space travel, created one of the most memorable sequences in film history, linking the waltz with visions of the cosmos.
From Hollywood to Homer: A pop culture legacy
The cultural reach of the waltz extended into popular television as well. An episode of The Simpsons featured Homer Simpson floating inside a space shuttle, snacking on potato chips set to Strauss’s melody.
Despite its popularity and its strong association with space, the waltz was not included in NASA’s Golden Records—two phonograph records launched aboard the Voyager probes in 1977 containing music and greetings from Earth.
According to the event’s website, ESA’s transmission is meant to pay “tribute to the past and a testament to the future—a Viennese Waltz that will echo through space forever.”
Voyager 1 is currently traveling more than 15.4 billion miles (24.8 billion kilometers) from Earth. The signal carrying Strauss’s music is expected to take about 23 hours to reach the spacecraft.
While it’s unlikely any alien life will hear the melody, the act is rich with symbolism. A historic waltz, long linked with the dream of space, is now part of it.