NASA beams Beatles tune 'Across the Universe'

0 Comments | AFP, February, 2008

WASHINGTON (AFP) — NASA said Friday it will beam The Beatles' tune "Across the Universe" to the North Star next week to celebrate the British pop group's and the US space agency's 50th anniversaries.

The broadcast will start at 0000 GMT Tuesday and will travel toward the Little Dipper constellation's brightest star at the speed of light, or 307,000 kilometers (186,000 miles) per second, NASA said in a statement.

The North Star is 431 light years from Earth, meaning that "Across the Universe" will take as many years to reach it.

The transmission over NASA's Deep Space Network will commemorate the 40th anniversary of the day The Beatles recorded the song, as well as the 50th anniversary of NASA's founding and The Beatles' beginnings, said NASA, many of whose...