Star Wars Concert in Space

You’ve probably heard that there’s no sound in space. This was true until Sarah Gillis changed this natural law for 4 ½ minutes, by holding the first concert in space. Sarah Gillis truly has made a significant impact, whether it was in the field of space, human knowledge, or the world of music, and you can learn all about it right now!  

                                                                            On September 13th, 2024 Sarah Gillis performed “Rey’s Theme” by John Williams, from Star Wars: The Force Awakens while shewas in space on SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission. She played with young musicians all around the world and they were able to perform this feat by using SpaceX’s Starlink internet system. She was part of a four-person who’s mission was to break records. During this 5 day mission, Sarah became the youngest person to complete a spacewalk and became the furthest-traveled woman (along with her crew mate Anna Menon) since the Apollo program. The Polaris Dawn mission was also the first private spacewalk and had the highest orbit since                                                                                the Apollo mission.

Sarah Gilis has made many impacts that will affect you and                                                                                     many other generations. While you may be thinking Sarah did this for fun, that’s not quite true. Sarah was using this opportunity to raise money for Music Education. Not only was Sarah doing this but so were so many others who joined her as she played in space. Sarah was able to play with children, Teens, and parents from all over. Sarah used these moments to create a partnership with El Sistema USA, a program developed to allow many people to access different curriculums. The idea was to encourage both STEM and Music together. This whole mission was not meant for just Sarah there’s still more. This Mission was called Polaris Dawn, the goal of this Mission was to test Star Link Communication (A laser based communication, a way to hopefully communicate better in space.)  This Mission was also used to test many different health benefits in space. To see all the tests, and reasons for this mission. Click here to learn more. 

About Sarah Gillis, and her travels.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                From a young age, Sarah Gillis was trained to play the violin. However, in high school, she was encouraged by one of her mentors, Joe Tanner who was a former astronaut, to pursue aerospace engineering. While she was studying dance and engineering at the University of Colorado she got an internship at SpaceX. After doing testing of the interior of the Dragon spacecraft she eventually went into the astronaut training program. 

As you can tell this Mission came with a lot of surprises, tests, hopes, goals, and improvements. I hope you enjoyed learning about the amazing impact that can be caused in just 4 ½ minutes, as well as the many new discoveries being made in space. Click here to watch Sarah Gillis’ performance! Thanks for reading. Be sure to leave a comment down below on what you think. 

Sources

Berman, Joshua. “Groundbreaking Violin Performance: Sarah Gillis’ Symphony from the Stars Stuns an Entire Planet | Shining Mountain Waldorf School.” Shining Mountain Waldorf School, 15 Sept. 2024, shiningmountainwaldorf.org/groundbreaking-violin-performance-sarah-gillis-symphony-from-the-stars-stuns-an-entire-planet/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.

Scala, Angie. “Polaris Dawn Crewmember Performs from Space with Youth Musicians around the World – El Sistema USA.” El Sistema USA, 28 Aug. 2024, elsistemausa.org/polaris-dawn-crewmember-performs-from-space-with-youth-musicians-around-the-world/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.

“WATCH: Astronaut and Violinist Debuts Song Live from Space with Global Youth Orchestras.” Primedia Plus, 2024, www.primediaplus.com/2024/09/16/watch-astronaut-and-violinist-debuts-song-live-from-space-with-global-youth-orchestras. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.

D’Cruze, Danny. Business Today, 17 Sept. 2024, www.businesstoday.in/technology/news/story/spacex-polaris-dawn-mission-heres-why-its-considered-a-historic-milestone-in-space-exploration-446354-2024-09-17. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.

“Polaris Dawn – a New Dawn in Space – Royal Aeronautical Society.” Royal Aeronautical Society, 2021, www.aerosociety.com/news/polaris-dawn-a-new-dawn-in-space/#:~:text=Polaris%20Dawn%2C%20which%20blasted%20off. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.

“Sarah Gillis – Polaris Program.” Polaris Program, 8 Aug. 2024, polarisprogram.com/team/sarah-gillis/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.

“Polaris Dawn.” Polaris Program, polarisprogram.com/dawn/. Accessed 26 Sept. 2024.