T-minus five minutes and counting.

As footage of the Space Shuttle Discovery played on the big screen and the countdown resounded through the speakers, Mannheim Steamroller launched its “Music of the Spheres” concert Friday at Stephens Auditorium.

Beginning with “Escape from the Atmosphere,” the simultaneous launch of the concert and the shuttle shook the auditorium. Played in real time and at the volume of the actual launch, this attention-grabbing event kicked off the evening.

“You felt [the blastoff] vibrating through you,” said Ellen Price, of Ames.

As a group that has become synonymous with the Christmas season, Mannheim Steamroller’s “Music of the Spheres” concert series has been treading on unknown ground.

The second of only three such performances by the group, the “Music of the Spheres” concerts are a way to test the press’s, advertisers’ and the audience’s reactions when trying to overcome its image as the well-known Christmas act, said Mannheim composer Chip Davis.

Davis said the main purpose of the concert is to shed light on the technical and medical achievements that have resulted from space exploration. Proceeds from the concert will benefit education for space exploration.

The concert, put on by Mannheim’s original five members and a professional orchestra composed of local musicians, was part of a partnership between Mannheim Steamroller and the Space Foundation.

According to the Mannheim Steamroller profile on the Iowa State Center Web site, this partnership includes a two-year, 20-city concert tour, beginning in 2008, focused on raising awareness of the benefits and importance of space programs.

Jim Kennedy, former director of the Kennedy Space Center, spoke at the beginning of the concert and gave a brief history of how space exploration and the space program started. He also spoke on what to look forward to in the next 50 years in space.

Praising Iowa State as a “space grant university,” Kennedy then led the audience through the history of space exploration, from the launch of Sputnik I in 1957 to the present.

The international space station, which currently houses ISU graduate Clay Anderson and has been home to various astronauts of several nations for the last seven years, has, coincidentally, flown over each concert location while it was taking place.

Through the partnership with NASA, Davis was granted a video conference interview with Anderson, a portion of which was played during the concert.

“Music of the Spheres” was a theoretical principle created by 17th-century astronomer Johannes Kepler. Based on a previous theory by the Greek philosopher Pythagoras, the theory hypothesized that the movements of objects in the solar system were a form of music.

Although the theory was eventually proved incorrect, Davis, an amateur astronomer, wanted to help celebrate America’s passion for space exploration and bring his personal enthusiasm to the audience.

Although Mannheim’s concert had a different premise than the Christmas albums it’s known for, the audience was still expecting more than just music.

“I was expecting a visual and musical combination,” said John Haila, of Boone. “[Mannheim Steamroller] has great variety in terms of musical styles.”