New Delhi, May 26 -- Johann Strauss II's iconic orchestral waltz The Blue Danube, once the sonic backdrop for both Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey and the Netflix megahit Squid Game, is about to reach its most literal destination yet: outer space.

In a bold and poetic gesture, the European Space Agency (ESA) will beam The Blue Danube into the cosmos this Saturday to mark two landmark anniversaries-the 50th year since ESA's formation and 200 years since the birth of the Austrian composer Strauss himself.

The Vienna Symphony Orchestra will perform the piece live in Austria, while a powerful radio antenna based in Spain simultaneously broadcasts it beyond Earth's atmosphere.

Despite its deep cultural association with space-most me...