Hip-hop icon Missy Elliott‘s classic “The Rain” became the first rap song played in space. On July 12, NASA‘s Deep Space Network beamed the song to Venus.
The song traveled approximately 158 million miles (254 million kilometers) from Earth to Venus, taking nearly 14 minutes to reach its destination at the speed of light. The transmission was made by the 34-meter-wide Deep Space Station 13 (DSS-13) radio dish antenna at the Goldstone Deep Space Communications Complex in California, fittingly nicknamed Venus.
“Both space exploration and Missy Elliott’s art have been about pushing boundaries,” said Brittany Brown, director of the Digital and Technology Division, Office of Communications at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
Missy acknowledged the accomplishment on X, tweeting, “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.”
“The Rain” was released on Missy’s debut album, Supa Dupa Fly, in 1997. The album included hit songs “Beep Me 911,” “Sock It 2 Me,” and “Best Friends.” The debut peaked at number one on Billboard’s Hip-Hop/R&B charts and received a platinum certification by the RIAA.
The music video for “The Rain” was nominated for MTV VMA and Grammy Awards. The video featured Lil Kim and Total.
Missy Elliott is on her first-ever headlining tour with Busta Rhymes and Ciara. Known as the “Out of This World – The Missy Elliott Experience” tour, it allows her fans to see her take center stage and remember an era. “It felt like it was time,” she told Variety. “It’s just a good time. Especially for my era of fans out there to just see me do my own headline tour, they never got a chance to see that. And a new generation, too.”