One of the coolest records ever made has to be the gold-plated record that NASA attached to the Voyager spacecrafts in 1977, but for some reason, the record has never been made available for purchase on vinyl. Well, that’s about to change.
Copies of the record, which was made to showcase what Earth sounds like to any aliens who might come across it (and who own a turntable), can now be bought from Ozma Records for $98; the result of a wildly successful Kickstarter campaign. The three-record sets are gold-colored (naturally), and come in a deluxe black box with gold trim, depicting the original cover images from the actual Voyager album. The set also includes a digital download of the record (for more modern aliens), as well as a 96-page booklet that contains all of the images included on the actual Voyager record.
Image courtesy of Ozma Records
As for the content of the records, they contain nearly two hours of audio, split up into three sections — just like on the real Voyager record. There’s the “Sounds of Earth,” a collage that includes nature sounds like rain, waves, and thunder; animal sounds such as birds, dogs, and crickets; and manmade sounds including trains, cars, and a rocket launch. Then there’s the greeting section, which includes greetings in 55 languages — plus whale greetings (remember Star Trek IV, they’re important!) — as well as greetings from then-world leaders. Finally, there’s the musical section, which contains classical selections from Bach, Beethoven, Mozart and the like; traditional music from many countries around the world; and popular songs from the likes of Chuck Berry and Louis Armstrong. The collection was partly curated by Carl Sagan, which adds even more cred to the record’s space chops.
The Voyager record is on sale for pre-order now, but won’t be available until January. Hey, we’ve waited this long, what’s another couple of months?
