A young British musician said she “can’t quite believe” it after her music was beamed to the International Space Station.
Moonlit Skies by Sally Robinson, a student from Cardiff, was sent to the ISS after she made contact with one of its former residents as part of an ongoing musical project.
Ms Robinson, 22, told the PA news agency: “Scott Kelly, the astronaut, heard it and was like, ‘Yeah, that’s really cool, I’m gonna send it up to the ISS’, which I still can’t quite believe.”
The track, released on Sunday, is part of a suite of eight songs produced by Ms Robinson themed around the four elements: air, earth, fire, and water.
For each the Bath Spa University student, who described her music as “on the indie side of folk”, is attempting to have them played in a relevant unique environment.
“The next pair represents earth, and that is going to go to scientific research facilities for the rainforest and the deserts,” she said.
“The pair after that is representing fire, so that’s going to go to volcanoes, all the way around the world I think, hopefully that’ll be really cool.
“And then the last pair is representing the water so that’s going to go to boats.”
Moonlit Skies, and its sister air track Leaves In The Light, have been played in polar research facilities at both poles, as well as being sent into space.
She made contact with Mr Kelly, the American astronaut who commanded three missions to the ISS, through his representatives and was delighted to get positive feedback.
“He just said ‘yeah, Sally, these are great’,” Ms Robinson said.
“He said he could really relate to Moonlit Skies, which I think is really cool.”
The project brings together Ms Robinson’s interests in art and science, in particular astronomy, a fascination which goes back to her childhood.
5 years ago, I returned home after a year in space and began my reintroduction to normal life on Earth by following the science.
Today I have a similar sense of anticipation on getting back to normal.
Stay the course, trust the science, and we will get there again together. pic.twitter.com/0MZ1WbnGBr— Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) March 2, 2021
“It’s just something that I’ve always just found absolutely amazing,” she said.
“Whenever you look up to the sky at night and you see the moon and then you feel so tiny, I find it so calming – which is what Moonlit Skies is about, that feeling.
“I think the first song I ever wrote was about missing the moon because I couldn’t see it from my bedroom window.”
Long term Ms Robinson, who is originally from Cornwall, hopes to make music professionally, but she is intending to study for a masters degree in psychology to become a therapist if that does not work out.
She enjoys bringing art and science together, something that is reflected in her elements project.
“I kind of feel like there should be much more of a crossover than there actually is at the minute, that’s kind of part of the idea,” she said.
