To mark the 200th birthday of Johann Strauss II, the Vienna Tourist Board and the European Space Agency (ESA), with the support of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, are sending Strauss’ masterpiece “By the Beautiful Blue Danube” into space at the speed of light. On May 31, 2025, the “Waltz into Space” mission will correct the mistake made in 1977, when the unofficial anthem of space was not sent into space on the Voyager Golden Record. Music lovers all over the world can be a part of it – live and as intergalactic ambassadors on a one-of-a-kind mission.

A huge moment for mankind – with one flaw: in 1977, NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 space probes were sent into space with 27 pieces of music, referred to as the “Golden Records”. They were records comprising a collection of mankind’s greatest achievements. The Danube Waltz, the musical epitome of weightlessness in space in popular culture, was not included – something unimaginable today. To mark the Strauss anniversary year, the Vienna Tourist Board and the European Space Agency (ESA) are using modern technology to correct a historical mistake.

STREAM IT UP! 

DANUBE WALTZ AT THE SPEED OF LIGHT

From Earth to the stars: On May 31, 2025 at 20:30 CET, an interstellar concert by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra will take place at the MAK Museum of Applied Arts in Vienna. Under the direction of chief conductor Petr Popelka, the orchestra will perform a selection of galactic-themed works. The highlight of the concert will be Johann Strauss II’s Danube Waltz, which will be transmitted in real time to the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Deep Space Antenna DSA 2 in Cebreros, Spain. From there, the waltz will be transmitted into the universe as an electromagnetic wave at the speed of light in the direction of Voyager 1. 23 hours later, the signal will catch up with NASA’s space probe, which has been traveling since 1977 to convey earthly masterpieces to potential extraterrestrial beings. The final chord of the Danube Waltz will conclude the broadcast into space, which will be accessible worldwide via the livestream at space.vienna.info.

A global celebration – from Vienna to New York

The roughly hour-long concert, including the Waltz into Space mission, will also be streamed live at the Strandbar Herrmann in Vienna, in Bryant Park near Times Square in New York and directly in front of the ESA Deep Space Antenna DSA 2 in Cebreros near Madrid. This will enable people all over the world to be part of this unique moment and witness Vienna sending its musical message into the universe.

The mission can also be followed via a global livestream on space.vienna.info and the Vienna Tourist Board’s Instagram channel @vienna.

Be part of the mission with SpaceNotes – interactive note sponsorship and a humorous mission film

Music lovers worldwide can be part of the Waltz into Space mission through the SpaceNotes initiative. Anyone who claims one of the 13,743 notes from “By the Beautiful Blue Danube” at space.vienna.info will symbolically accompany the work into space. The aim is to broadcast the waltz out into the universe on May 31 accompanied by 13,743 names. Supporters will receive a personalized certificate and become SpaceNote Ambassadors – among those already involved are Vienna’s Mayor Michael Ludwig, Josef Aschbacher (ESA General Director), Kara Talve (The Simpsons), Brian W. Cook (former Assistant Director to Stanley Kubrick) and Carmen Possnig (ESA Reserve Astronaut).

To coincide with this, Vienna Tourist Board’s newly released mission film invites anyone interested from around the world to join the mission and become one of the limited 13,743 SpaceNote Ambassadors. The humorous short film, shot in a decommissioned nuclear power plant with an iconic 70s interior, tells the story of how the Danube Waltz was left behind during the launch of Voyager 1 in 1977.

Deep Space Antenna sends Donauwalzer on an interstellar journey

The ESA Deep Space Antenna DSA 2 is primarily used for deep space missions, in other words for communicating with objects in orbits more than two million kilometers away from Earth. In order to transmit the Danube Waltz, the signal will be sent into space as an electromagnetic wave at the speed of light (299,792,458 m/s – the fastest speed possible in our universe). It will reach the orbit of the Moon after approximately 1.34 seconds, the orbit of Mars after 4 minutes and 20 seconds, the orbit of Jupiter after 37 minutes, the orbit of Neptune after 4 hours and the limits of our solar system, called the heliopause, after 17 hours. The signal will then leave our solar system. After 23 hours and 3 minutes, it will catch up with Voyager 1 and venture even deeper into interstellar space. Strauss’ waltz will then travel through space forever.

2025: ONE YEAR, FIVE ANNIVERSARIES

• It is not just the Waltz King and his queen, Vienna, who will be celebrated this year as part of the “King of Waltz. Queen of Music” themed year. Other anniversaries that will be celebrated include:
• The European Space Agency (ESA) is also looking back on 50 years since its foundation.
• At the same time, the ESA Deep Space Antenna DSA 2 in Cebreros, which will transmit the Strauss waltz into space on May 31, will be 20 years old. 
• The Estrack Network (ESA’s Tracking Station Network), in which the antenna in Spain is located, will also be celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2025. 
• The Wiener Symphoniker are 125 years old this year. 

Mayor of Vienna, Michael Ludwig: “Contemporary history live”

“In 2025, Vienna will celebrate the 200th birthday of its Waltz King with stagings of 65 productions over the course of some 250 performance days throughout Vienna. Under the motto “King of Waltz. Queen of Music”, the Vienna Tourist Board has opted for a progressive approach to Johann Strauss II, which reaches its brilliant climax with ‘Waltz into Space’. Once again, the Austrian capital will be presenting itself as an innovative world capital of music – a city that not only preserves its heritage, but also generates impetus for the future with visionary ideas.

Norbert Kettner, Director of the Vienna Tourist Board “Strauss reaches beyond the solar system”

“Stanley Kubrick’s ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ made the Danube Waltz the anthem of space – the absence of the most famous of all waltzes from the 1977 Voyager Golden Record is a cosmic mistake that we are correcting with ‘Waltz into Space’. At a distance of more than 25 billion kilometers from Earth, Voyager 1 is the most distant man-made object in space. As part of our mission with the European Space Agency, we are sending ‘By the Beautiful Blue Danube’ in the direction of the space probe that is already traveling through interstellar space. ‘Waltz into Space’ will therefore have an impact beyond our solar system and also inspire people on Earth to experience culture in Vienna.”

Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the ESA: “Where artistic vision and scientific excellence meet”

“In 2025 we have a wonderful double anniversary: the 200th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss II and the 50th anniversary of the ESA. I am delighted that we can celebrate both by broadcasting a live performance of the Danube Waltz into space from our Cebreros ground station. This demonstrates that our technology can transmit not only scientific data but also human art over long distances. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of our global ground station network. This broadcast will be a special moment that will show that music – just like space – connects all of humanity.”

Jan Nast, Intendant Wiener Symphoniker: „Genuss symphonischer Musik für weitere Kreise“

 ‘In ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’, ‘On the Beautiful Blue Danube’ accompanies the rotation of the space station and the docking of the spaceships. Stanley Kubrick deliberately chose the Danube Waltz to emphasise the grace and poetry of movement in space - a floating ballet in outer space. No other work epitomises the connection between music and the universe as impressively as Strauss' waltz, as it is regarded as the space anthem. With ‘Waltz into Space’, the Wiener Symphoniker are performing for a potentially extraterrestrial audience for the first time. We are thus remaining true to our founding mission: to make the fascination of symphonic music accessible to an ever wider audience.’

Countdown to the Strauss year initiated with “Space Anthem”

It is not only fictional characters such as Homer Simpson who have been floating through space in three-four time since Stanley Kubrick’s 1968 science fiction film “2001: A Space Odyssey”. In real space travel, too, the Blue Danube Waltz is an integral part of wake-up calls and docking maneuvers. Even during the NASA mission in 2001, the Danube Waltz was played when the space shuttle “Discovery” docked at the International Space Station (ISS) – it is internationally regarded as the anthem of space. In the Vienna Tourist Board’s mini-documentary “Space Anthem” (spaceanthem.wien.info), produced in collaboration with the European Space Agency, prominent international voices from the worlds of music, film and space travel explain the special connection between Strauss’ waltz and outer space. It is the first major production by the Vienna Tourist Board to mark its annual theme “King of Waltz. Queen of Music.” (strauss.wien.info).