NASA is planning two missions to Venus later this decade, but Missy Elliott got there a lot sooner. The space agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory says the Deep Space Network beamed Elliott's hit "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" to Venus on Friday. The agency says it's the first hip-hop song transmitted to space—and the only other song sent to space apart from "Across the Universe" by the Beatles.
- "Both space exploration and Missy Elliott's art have been about pushing boundaries," says Brittany Brown at NASA headquarters, who pitched the idea to the hip-hop star's team. "Missy has a track record of infusing space-centric storytelling and futuristic visuals in her music videos, so the opportunity to collaborate on something out of this world is truly fitting."