The Golden Record

Launched in 1977, both Voyager spacecraft carry a unique 'time capsule' along with them into interstellar space.

A golden record says The Sounds of Earth on the label and to the makers of music - all worlds, all time hand etched into the margin at the center.

A Kind of Time Capsule

Pioneers 10 and 11, which preceded Voyager, both carried small metal plaques identifying their time and place of origin for the benefit of any other spacefarers that might find them in the distant future. With this example before them, NASA placed a more ambitious message aboard Voyager 1 and 2, a kind of time capsule, intended to communicate a story of our world to extraterrestrials. 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.

Overview

  1. 01

    The Golden Record Cover

    The record's protective cover includes with instructions for playing its contents, finding Earth in the cosmos, and dating how long it has been in space.

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  2. 02

    What's on the Record?

    The record features images and a variety of natural sounds, such thunder, birds, musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings in 55 languages.

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  3. 03

    History and Manufacturing

    Many people were instrumental in the design, development and manufacturing of the golden record.

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Universe

Splotches of bright-pink and blue-white fill the lower half of the image. A bright bar of white stars extends downward from top-center toward the left. Random areas of dusty clouds form dark streams against the bright backdrop.

Our Solar System

An illustration of a slice of a bright orange sun, with planets, a comet and asteroids against a blue-black backround.

Sun

Tendrils of hot plasma stream from the Sun.

Galaxies

Looking like a pinwheel, this face-on spiral galaxy holds a bright-white core at image center. Arms curve outward from the core. They hold dark dust lanes and bright star-forming regions. All on a black background dotted with stars.