Get ready to embark on a breath-taking journey through sound, science, and the story of our planet. As Space Station Earth prepares to launch its 2026 UK tour, we caught up with composer and creative visionary Ilan Eshkeri to talk about the inspiration behind this extraordinary live experience. Combining sweeping orchestral music, stunning visuals from the European Space Agency, and a profound message about humanity’s place in the cosmos, Space Station Earth offers audiences a rare chance to see the wonder of space come to life on stage.
In this exclusive Q&A, Ilan shares how the project came to be, what fans can expect from the tour, and why this immersive celebration of Earth is unlike anything else you’ll experience this year.
It’s a massive live performance of my album with synth pop band, orchestra and choir all on stage with three huge screens showing the incredible images filmed by astronauts whilst living onboard the International Space Station. The album was inspired by many conversations with Tim Peake and other astronauts. It follows the emotional journey that astronauts go on when they travel to the International Space Station. The show captures their experiences and allows the audience to see through the eyes of an astronaut.
Tim Peake contacted me because he was a fan of my work and wanted to use my music for his mission video. I went to visit him at NASA where he was training, and he gave me the tour you can only get if an actual astronaut takes you around. I was so inspired I walked away thinking, “I’ve got to make something big and spectacular” and that’s how I set about creating the show. Speaking to astronauts, they tend to be pilots, engineers and scientists, used to talking in technical terms so speaking emotionally or poetically doesn’t always come easily but one to one I was able to engage on a personal level about their experiences and translate that into music.
I learn everything I can when I’m writing to empathise with the emotion I’m trying to capture. In this instance the European Space Agency helped by inviting me to rocket launches and even allowing me to experience zero gravity in the plane that astronauts train in. I remember watching Tim Peake’s rocket launch and feeling all the excitement of this immense moment, but what I didn’t expect was to feel so emotional, when you know someone on that rocket and you understand the dangers of it a part of you is also terrified for them and their family and then you’re overwhelmed with joy when they are safe. I tried to take all of these experiences and stories I was told and use them to imagine how the astronauts feel and express that through music.
It was really hard - I’ve never directed before but I worked with incredible DoPs and photographers and amazing editors. The film is across three screens and one of the hardest things was to balance how the images worked across the screens. Too many different images across the screens could end up being overwhelming instead of exciting, so it was a lot of trial and error. I even sent the film to the European Space Agency to get comments from rocket scientists and astronauts and support teams, their notes were extraordinary and really helpful to make the experience authentic. All in all we tested the film many times before finalizing it for performance.
The idea was so big and needed to encompass so much, it meant me bringing elements together that I felt needed to be there to express it all. Synths for the technology, orchestra and choir for the emotion, the huge super-wide triple screens and every time someone told me it wasn’t possible, which happened frequently, I sat down with them to work out how we could bring the visions to life. I didn’t set out to push so many boundaries, but the project demanded it and the result is critics and audiences deciding it’s genre-defying.
We are about to send humans to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years, I think the excitement around human space flight is palpable and this seemed to be a great reason to do the tour again. People want to know about space and astronauts, there are loads of ways to find out about what astronauts do but this is the only way to know how astronauts feel.
I can’t wait to be back on stage, the show is so inspiring to perform because the audience connects to it on a profoundly emotional level. I hope next year our audience will enjoy the show more than ever and feel inspired by seeing through the eyes of an astronaut.
Many astronauts have told me that although you train for 7 years to go to the space station, when you arrive you are struck by this understanding that if you don’t look after the vessel you’re travelling in, and you don’t look after your fellow travelers you won’t survive the journey. Then when you get your chance to go to the Cupola, the 7 windowed module that looks at earth and you realise the same is true here. If we don’t look after this planet we’re travelling on, and we don’t look after each other, we won’t survive. That’s why at the show we have crew patches and t-shirts - I hope everyone gets one to remind them to not just be a passenger on Space Station Earth, you need to do your bit and be a member of the Crew.
Seeing what the astronauts experience taking care of their vessel in space shows us that we need to take care of the planet and each other like they do on the International Space Station, or we won’t survive. Speaking to people who have seen the show and knowing that it has changed their perspective on our world makes me feel in my own small way that I’m doing my bit to help the planet.
Yes, I hope that the show inspires people to do their bit to take care of our Space Station Earth and that they can achieve that going forward through art and music and science.
Space Station Earth takes the stage in London, Manchester, and Birmingham this spring for three, awe-inspiring performances. Experience it live for yourself:
31 May 2026, Royal Festival Hall London
5 June 2026, Birmingham Town Hall
6 June 2026, The Hall - Aviva Studios Manchester
