One can imagine that there are many ways an astronaut might honor the 50th anniversary of the first manned space flight. One can also imagine that few would have guessed it would have been with a Jethro Tull performance.
But that’s exactly what is set to happen today, April 12, when American astronaut Catherine Coleman will duet with Tull frontman Ian Anderson, according to The Guardian. Anderson will contribute his part from the ground while Coleman plays the flute way up there in the International Space Station. The pair will duet on the band’s 1969 instrumental “Bouree,” based on a Johann Sebastian Bach piece. The unlikely duo were paired by mutual friend, former radio DJ Dayna Steele.
“Kate thought it would be fun to do a duet in space and asked me if I knew how to get in touch with Ian since I’ve been part of that world,” Steele told AOL News. “So I tracked him down.”
Steele said she thinks the terrestrial/extraterrestrial duet could be tricky to pull off.
“I imagine playing music together might be tough,” she said. “There is usually a four-second delay when you’re talking to someone from the space station. It’s a challenge trying to talk with someone.”
On the positive side, it might be easier for Coleman to master Anderson’s famous one-legged pose in zero gravity.
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The crew of the space shuttle Endeavour will awaken to the sound of Rush today. A one-minute clip of Rush’s “Countdown” (from 1982’s Signals) will be beamed from Earth to the shuttle at approximately 6 p.m. EST, according to BraveWords.com. 