Voyager's 'Golden Disk'
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VOYAGER’S GREETINGS TO THE UNIVERSE
Both Voyager spacecraft carry small metal plaques identifying their time and place of
origin for the benefit of any other celestial traveler's that might find them in the
distant future.
The Voyager message is carried by a phonograph record-a 12-inch
gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of
life and culture on Earth.
The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee
chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115
images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder,
birds, whales, and other animals. To this they added musical selections from different
cultures and eras, spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed
messages from President Carter and the U.N. Secretary, General Waldheim.
Each record was encased in a protective aluminum jacket, together with
a cartridge and a needle. Instructions, in symbolic language, explain the origin of the
spacecraft and indicate how the record is to be played.
When the Voyager spacecraft leave our solar system, they will find
themselves in empty space. It will be forty thousand years before they make a close
approach to any other planetary system.
Carl Sagan noted, “The spacecraft will be encountered and the
record played only if there are advanced spacefaring civilizations in interstellar space.
But the launching of this bottle into the cosmic ocean says something very hopeful about
life on this planet.”
Follow the links below to view the information which was recorded onto
'Golden Disk'.
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