NASA beams Beatles tune `Across the Universe`

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 was quoted by AFP as saying 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 founders and engineers are avid fans of the Fab Four.

Two other anniversaries also are being honored by the broadcast: the launch 50 years ago this week of Explorer 1, the first US satellite, and the founding 45 years ago of the Deep Space Network, an international network of antennas that supports missions to explore the universe, NASA said.

Former Beatle Sir Paul McCartney welcomed the space launching of the song, which was written by John Lennon, the Beatle shot dead in New York City in 1980.

"Amazing! Well done, NASA!" he said in a message on NASA's website. "Send my love to the aliens. All the best, Paul."