“Floating in Heaven” is available now
10cc’s Graham Gouldman has teamed up with Queen co-founder Brian May to recognize the release of the first science-quality images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) with new music. Both known for their fascination with space exploration, “Floating In Heaven” is written and performed by Gouldman and features Brian May on guitar and vocals.
The James Webb Space Telescope entered orbit in January 2022 and is the most powerful telescope ever launched into space. JWST will succeed Hubble as NASA’s flagship mission in astrophysics. The release of the song coincides with the highly anticipated release of first pictures brought to earth by the JWST on July 12th.
“I fell in love with the James Webb space telescope when it was first launched in December of last year,” Gouldman shares. “I followed its progress on the NASA website and was inspired to write ‘Floating In Heaven’. It has been a joy having Brian May collaborate with me on the track and contribute his beautiful guitar work. When science and music come together beautiful things can happen.”
“Comparing it with the already wonderful Hubble image of the same region, it’s immediately apparent how stupendously our vision of the universe has been improved by the new space telescope,” May shares. “The fact that the telescope can see further back in time is one thing. The fact that they are now able to observe in infrared light instead of visible gives another advantage. And finally in this picture you see that they are able to use the giant gravitational lens which occupies the middle of [the] picture to see even further back in time.”
The images capture light from galaxies that has taken 13 billion years to reach us. The telescope penetrates through the dust clouds and show light far across the corners of the universe.
May, who is also an astrophysicist, released “New Horizons” in 2019 after NASA announced its probe had reached the furthest object in our solar system ever visited by a spacecraft.
