In 1977, NASA made two vinyl records filled with sounds of humans, nature, rock songs, and classical music. Etched between each of the grooves of the record was the message “To the makers of music—all worlds, all times.” Instead of being made for a record player, both records were sent into space, one aboard the Voyager 1 and the other aboard the Voyager 2, with the dream that another civilization would find and listen to them. That dream of a music-loving alien never came to fruition, at least that we know of.
The Washington Post reports that copies of the vinyl records will now be available to the people of Earth thanks to a Kickstarter campaign that raised a million dollars for the record’s production last year. Kickstarter backers will get a boxed set of the contents of the vinyls made by Ozma Records. The set will also be available to the general public in January of next year (its available via CD now).
Highlights of the vinyls include recordings of Morse code clicks, kisses, Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” and a special recorded message from former President Jimmy Carter that says, “We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations.”
As for the originals, those are still in space. The records were made from copper and gold so they could withstand heat damage and dust. One is still orbiting in our solar system, while the other left our system in 2012 and is currently thought to be 13 billion miles from Earth. Neither one is traveling with a record player, so presuming they are found by another galactic civilization, it will be up to the aliens to figure out how to play it.