Missy Elliott is making history as the first hip-hop artist to have a song transported into outer space.
The famous 1997 hit song “The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)” by four-time Grammy winner Missy Elliott was sent to Venus on July 12 via the 122-foot-wide Deep Space Station 13 (DSS-13) radio dish antenna in Goldstone, California, according to a NASA announcement made on Monday, July 15. The music took over 14 minutes to reach Venus, Elliott’s favorite planet, after traveling 158 million miles at the speed of light.
As NASA points out, DSS-13 also happens to go by the moniker “Venus.” According to Popular Science, DSS-13 is a component of the organization’s extensive worldwide Deep Space Network (DSN) array, which has been used for satellite communication for more than 60 years.
Elliott was obviously ecstatic to receive this extraordinary accolade. Elliott expressed her joy on X/Twitter on Monday, saying, “YOOO this is crazy! We just went #OutOfThisWorld with NASA and sent the FIRST hip hop song into space through the Deep Space Network. My song ‘The Rain’ has officially been transmitted all the way to Venus, the planet that symbolizes strength, beauty, and empowerment. The sky is not the limit, it’s just the beginning 👽👽”
When presenting the concept to Elliott’s team, Brittany Brown, Director of NASA’s Office of Communications’ Digital and Technology Division, pointed out the similarities between space exploration and the artist’s creations: “Missy Elliott’s art and space exploration have both been about pushing boundaries.” “Missy’s music videos have a history of incorporating futuristic imagery and space-centric storytelling, so the chance to work with her on an extraterrestrial project seems very appropriate.”
NASA’s Deep Space Network has only ever sent music into space twice. The Beatles’ “Across the Universe,” aptly chosen as the opening song, was directed in 2008 at Polaris, the North Star, which is 431 light years away from Earth.
“Artists such as Missy Elliott and the Beatles have had their music beamed into space to inspire humanity to think about Earth’s place in the cosmos,” a DSN spokesman told The New York Times on Tuesday. “And maybe others, if they’re out there to hear it.”