Missy Elliott's 1997 breakout hit "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" has officially been transmitted into outer space.
NASA has confirmed that they beamed Elliott's song to Venus via NASA’s DSN (Deep Space Network). The agency reports that its Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California sent the transmission on Friday, July 12 at 10:05AM PDT.
According to NASA, the song travelled approximately 158 million miles (254 million kilometres) from Earth to Venus, which just so happens to be Elliott’s favourite planet.
"Transmitted at the speed of light, the radio frequency signal took nearly 14 minutes to reach the planet," NASA added. "The transmission was made by the 34-meter (112-foot) wide Deep Space Station 13 (DSS-13) radio dish antenna, located at the DSN’s Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex, near Barstow in California. Coincidentally, the DSS-13 also is nicknamed Venus."
In a statement, Elliott expressed her excitement over the accomplishment, saying, “I still can’t believe I’m going out of this world with NASA through the Deep Space Network when “The Rain” (Supa Dupa Fly) becomes the first ever hip-hop song to transmit to space! I chose Venus because it symbolizes strength, beauty, and empowerment and I am so humbled to have the opportunity to share my art and my message with the universe!”
“Both space exploration and Missy Elliott’s art have been about pushing boundaries,” said Brittany Brown, director, Digital and Technology Division, Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Missy has a track record of infusing space-centric storytelling and futuristic visuals in her music videos so the opportunity to collaborate on something out of this world is truly fitting.”
Check out some tweets from NASA and Missy Elliott below.
Supa-flying to Venus!
— NASA (@NASA) July 15, 2024
For the first time, a hip-hop song was transmitted #OutOfThisWorld. @MissyElliott's "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" traveled 158 million miles to Venus through NASA's Deep Space Network from @NASAJPL's Deep Space Station 13 in California: https://t.co/Gg5ibm80hb pic.twitter.com/BwsdTNNqCv
Along with my song “The Rain” Supaflying to Venus Yesterday with @NASA another HISTORICAL event that I’m humbly GRATEFUL for is 27 years ago my album dropped “SupaDupaFly” if you don’t have that album go cop it! It’s so FUTURISTIC👽🛸🚀🔥🔥 #OutOfThisWorldTour pic.twitter.com/lnE26fqCKx
— Missy Elliott (@MissyElliott) July 16, 2024