Beatles sing to the stars — and the aliens too

THE Beatles’ song Across the Universe will be the first ever to be beamed directly into space next week, Nasa said.

Former Beatle Paul McCartney said it was an “amazing” achievement and John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono called it the “beginning of a new age”.

The transmission of the song over the space agency’s Deep Space Network on Monday will mark the 40th anniversary of the day the band recorded the song.

The song will be aimed at the North Star, Polaris, 431 light years away from Earth, and it will travel across the universe at a speed of 299,300km per second, Nasa said.

In a message to the space agency, Mr McCartney said: “Amazing! Well done, Nasa! Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul.”

Ms Ono said: “I see this as the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets across the universe.”

Anything listening out there would hear the lyrics which include the chorus line: “Nothing’s gonna change my world.”

Fans have been invited to play the song around the world at midnight GMT on Monday night — the same time it will be transmitted by Nasa.

The event will also mark 50 years of Nasa, 45 years of the Deep Space Network and 50 years since the founding of Explorer 1, the first US satellite.

A Nasa spokesman said many of the senior scientists and engineers involved in the project were among The Beatles’ biggest fans.

Dr Barry Geldzahler, the network’s programme executive at Nasa headquarters in Washington, said: “I’ve been a Beatles fan for 45 years... What a joy, especially considering that Across the Universe is my personal favourite Beatles song.”

The Deep Space Network is an international network of antennae that supports missions to explore the universe.