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In 1977, two ambitious spacecraft were launched to take advantage of a once-in-a-lifetime planetary alignment: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune could all be visited by one craft, vastly improving astronomers understanding of those worlds. These spacecraft were the Voyagers 1 and 2.
Because of the speed needed to do flybys of these planets, the spacecraft were destined to leave the Solar System forever. They are now billions of miles away, and amazingly enough, still (Partially) functioning!Having traveled beyond the outer planets, these remarkable spacecraft are only the third and fourth human built artifacts to escape our solar system, following in the footsteps of Pioneer 10 and 11.
Astronomer Carl Sagan (Billions and Billions!) thought there was a minuscule chance that an alien race might come across the craft at some point in the distant future, so he decided that a "Message in a bottle" to these aliens was a good idea.A 12-inch gold plated copper disk containing recorded sounds and images representing human cultures and life on Earth, is affixed to each Voyager.The disks are intended to be played like a phonograph record at 16 and 2/3 revolutions per second. Cartridge and needle are supplied, along with some simple diagrams which represent symbolically the spacecraft's origin and instructions for playing the disk. The exotic construction of the disks should provide them with a long lifetime as they coast through interstellar space. The two spacecraft will not make a close approach to another planetary system for at least 40,000 years.Second-to-last photo shows the real thing mounted on the spacecraft.
This plaque is a reproduction, smaller than actual size, of the cover protecting that record. It has pictorial instructions showing how to play the record (See the last photo for an explanation).About 7" in diameter. Laser-etched gold-tone metallic plastic. Has wall hanger on back. Comes with a printout of the explanation. Voyager spacecraft and launch vehicle not included!
