SpaceX engineer Sarah Gills played the first violin solo in space during the Polaris Dawn mission. Photo by Polaris/X.
In last Sunday’s (9/15) New York Post, Ronny Reyes writes, “A member of the Polaris Dawn flight crew performed the first violin solo in space—appropriately to the tune of a ‘Star Wars’ theme—after participating in the first-ever civilian spacewalk. After her historic jaunt outside the spaceship with billionaire Jared Isaacman on Thursday, SpaceX engineer Sarah Gills serenaded her crew members and the world with her violin as she played ‘Rey’s Theme,’ a John Williams score from the flick ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens.’ Footage of the cosmic concerto shows Gills floating inside SpaceX’s Dragon capsule as she plays the cinematic song with her hair standing up in the weightlessness of space. Her playing was synced up with orchestras around the world to complete the ensemble, but Gills’ part was solely audible in real-time to her three crew members, who could be seen grinning at the once-in-a-lifetime concert. Polaris Dawn dubbed the solo ‘Harmony of Resilience,’ which was scheduled in a partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and El Sistema … After the mission, which also tested SpaceX’s new spacesuits, the Polaris crew landed safely back to Earth on Sunday, wrapping up its five-day trip.”
