Once the Voyager spacecraft leave the solar system (by 1990, both will be beyond the orbit of Pluto), they will find themselves in empty space. It will be forty thousand years before they come within a light year of a star, called AC + 79 3888, and millions of years before either might make a close approach to any other planetary system. As Carl Sagan has 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.”
LANGUAGES ON VOYAGER RECORD
Sumerian Akkadian Hittite Hebrew Aramaic English Portuguese Cantonese Russian Thai Arabic Roumanian French Burmese Spanish Indonesian Kechua Dutch German Bengali Urdu Hindi Vietnamese Sinhalese Greek Latin Japanese Punjabi Turkish Welsh Italian Nguni Sotho Wu Korean Armenian Polish Netali Mandarin Gujorati Ila (Zambia) Nyanja Swedish Ukrainian Persian Serbian Luganada Amoy (Min dialect) Marathi Kannada Telugu Oriya Hungarian Czech Rajasthani
SOUNDS OF EARTH ON VOYAGER RECORD
Whales Planets (music) Volcanoes Mud pots Rain Surf Crickets, frogs Birds Hyena Elephant Chimpanzee Wild dog Footsteps and heartbeats Laughter Fire Tools Dogs, domestic Herding sheep Blacksmith shop Sawing Riveter Morse code Ships Horse and cart Horse and carriage Train whistle Tractor Truck Auto gears Jet Lift-off Saturn 5 rocket Kiss Baby Life signs—EEG, EKG Pulsart
VOYAGER RECORD PHOTOGRAPH INDEX
Calibration circle Solar location map Mathematical definitions Physical unit definitions Solar system parameters The Sun Solar spectrum Mercury Mars Jupiter Earth Egypt, Red Sea, Sinai Peninsula and the Nile Chemical definitions DNA structure DNA structure magnified Cells and cell division Anatomy (eight) Human sex organs Diagram of conception Conception Fertilized ovum Fetus diagram Fetus Diagram of male and female Birth Nursing mother Father and daughter (Malaysia) Group of children Diagram of family ages Family portrait Diagram of continental drift Structure of Earth Heron Island (Great Barrier Reef of Australia) Seashore Snake River and Grand Tetons Sand dunes Monument Valley Forest scene with mushrooms Leaf Fallen leaves Sequoia Snowflake Tree with daffodils Flying insect with flowers Diagram of vertebrate evolution Seashell (Xancidae) Dolphins School of fish Tree toad Crocodile Eagle Waterhold Jane Goodall and chimps Sketch of Bushmen Bushmen hunters Man from Guatemala Dancer from Bali Andean girls Thailand craftsman Elephant Old man with beard and glasses (Turkey) Old man with dog and flowers Mountain climber Cathy Rigby Sprinters Schoolroom Children with globe Cotton harvest Grape picker Supermarket Underwater scene with diver and fish Fishing boat with nets Cooking fish Chinese dinner party Demonstration of licking, eating and drinking Great Wall of China House construction (African) Construction scene (Amish country) House (Africa) House (New England) Modern house (Cloudcroft, New Mexico) House interior with artist and fire Taj Mahal English city (Oxford) Boston UN Building, day UN Building, night Sydney Opera House Artisan with drill Factory interior Museum X-ray of hand Woman with microscope Street scene, Asia (Pakistan) Rush hour traffic, India Modern highway (Ithaca) Golden Gate Bridge Train Airplane in flight Airport (Toronto) Antarctic expedition Radio telescope (Westerbork, Netherlands) Radio telescope (Arecibo) Page of book (Newton, System of the World) Astronaut in space Titan Centaur launch Sunset with birds String quartet (Quartetto Italiano) Violin with music score (Cavatina)
MUSIC ON VOYAGER RECORD
Bach Brandenberg Concerto Number Two, First Movement “Kinds of Flowers” Javanese Court Gamelan Senegalese Percussion Pygmy girls initiation song Australian Horn and Totem song “El Cascabel” Lorenzo Barcelata “Johnny B. Goode” Chuck Berry New Guinea Men’s House “Depicting the Cranes in Their Nest” Bach Partita Number Three for Violin; Gavotte et Rondeaus Mozart Magic Flute, Queen of the Night (Aria Number 14) Chakrulo Peruvian Pan Pipes Melancholy Blues Azerbaijan Two Flutes Stravinsky, Rite of Spring, Conclusion Bach Prelude and Fugue Number One in C Major from the Well Tempered Clavier, Book Two Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, First Movement Bulgarian Shepherdess Song “Izlel Delyo Hajdutin” Navajo Indian Night Chant The Fairie Round from Pavans, Galliards, Almains Melanesian Pan Pipes Peruvian Woman’s Wedding Song “Flowing Streams”—Chinese Ch’in music “Jaat Kahan Ho”—Indian Raga “Dark Was the Night” Beethoven String Quartet Number 13 “Cavatina”
