SpaceX’s Starlink has been used to download from space Polaris Dawn Mission Specialist, Sarah Gillis performing “Rey’s Theme” on violin with a worldwide orchestra accompanying her in a stunning display of musical talent and cutting edge technology together with the wonderment of space exploration.
On Friday, September 13, 2024, Polaris Dawn Mission Specialist Sarah Gillis, an accomplished musician, and SpaceX engineer-turned-astronaut, performed “Rey’s Theme” by composer John Williams on her custom-made violin while in orbit aboard the Dragon spacecraft, launching her campaign to raise support for music education back on Earth. Her music selection, fittingly, was a piece from the film, Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Gillis was joined in performance by youth musicians from around the world, all of them students in the international El Sistema network of organizations, specifically: the inaugural El Sistema program in Venezuela, The Boston String Academy in the United States, NEOJIBA in Brazil, Dream Orchestra in Sweden, Brass for Africa in Uganda, and BLUME Haiti. The video of their historic performance is the first-of-its-kind downloaded from space via Starlink high-speed internet.
