Forty years ago this week, NASA launched Voyager 2, which carries a gold-plated record featuring pictures and sounds from Earth as well as scientific information, all of which was carefully compiled in anticipation of a possible extraterrestrial encounter. Here are the contents of the record:
Recording of someone saying Hey, anybody there? in 55 different languages
Some annoying interludes of human laughter and whale song in between tracks
Jimmy Carter explaining what peanuts are for three hours
Variety of photos capturing Earth’s most breathtaking hunks
A desperate plea for oil
Fair use disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976
A greeting card signed by all 4,136,542,070 people alive in 1977
Anatomical breakdown of how Carl Sagan’s body works and how he reproduces
Picture of a mushroom cloud in case the aliens get any ideas
Fold-out album sleeve containing every significant piece of art ever created
Picture of the winner of a 1977 KISS FM contest
Detailed explanation of the infield fly rule
Instructions on how to build a turntable to play the record