NASA Tests Beatles' Star Power

NASA will send the Beatles song "Across the Universe" into deep space Monday, the Houston Chronicle reports. In commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of both the space agency and the band, NASA’s Deep Space Network will transmit the song toward the North Star, Polaris—which the signal should reach in about 431 years.

"I see that this is the beginning of the new age in which we will communicate with billions of planets," said Yoko Ono, whose late husband, John Lennon, was the song's main author. Sir Paul McCarthy, who has already had a live performance beamed to the International Space Station, also applauded: "Send my love to the aliens. All the best." (More NASA stories.)