NASA's Golden Record, carried by the Voyager 1 & 2 spacecraft, is a time capsule containing sounds and images of Earth, including natural sounds (wind, thunder, animals), music from various cultures (Bach, Chuck Berry), spoken greetings in 55 languages, and 115 encoded photos showing science, humanity, and life on Earth, all meant to communicate our planet's story to potential extraterrestrial finders.
The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University, et. al. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals.
Track listing
Sounds
A tiny speck of a spacecraft cast into the endless sea of outer space, each Voyager craft was designed to drift forever with no set point of arrival. Likewise, the Golden Record was designed to be playable for up to a billion years, despite the long odds that anyone or anything would ever discover and “listen” to it.
Voyager 1 could have been aimed on to Pluto, but exploration of Titan and the rings of Saturn was a primary scientific objective. This caused the trajectory to be diverted upward out of the ecliptic plane such that no further planetary encounters were possible for Voyager 1.
Yes, there has been an alleged crime in space, sparking the first NASA criminal investigation in orbit involving astronaut Anne McClain accessing her estranged spouse's bank account from the International Space Station (ISS) in 2019, though she was later cleared and her ex-spouse charged with making false statements, highlighting the legal complexities of jurisdiction in space. While no major crimes have been prosecuted in space, this incident proved the "long arm of the law" can reach orbit, with astronauts remaining under their home nation's laws for offenses committed on the ISS, according to intergovernmental agreements.
1 hour on Earth can equal 7 years in space (or vice versa) due to time dilation, a concept from Einstein's relativity where strong gravity or extreme speeds slow down time relative to an outside observer, famously depicted in the movie Interstellar on a planet near a black hole where an hour for the crew meant years passing on Earth. It's not about speed alone in orbit (ISS astronauts age slightly slower), but about proximity to immense mass, like a black hole, bending spacetime so drastically that time crawls for those nearby compared to time far away.
While space remains dead silent to our ears, it buzzes with electromagnetic activity that can be translated into mesmerizing soundscapes by scientists. These sonified signals give us a way to “hear” the cosmos and understand celestial environments in ways we never imagined.
These are photos that NASA chose to send to aliens. They're riding on the first spacecrafts to leave our solar system, Voyager 1 and 2, which are now way out into interstellar space carrying golden records with these images on them.
No, the most recorded song of all time is, in fact, 'Summertime' by George Gershwin. Forget the 4,000 versions of 'Yesterday' and 6,600 recordings of 'Amazing Grace' — 'Summertime' has been recorded no less than 67,591 times by the likes of Janis Joplin, Billie Holiday, and Sam Cooke.
During his time on the International Space Station Commander Chris Hadfield recorded twelve songs. One was a recording of David Bowie's Space Oddity, ten were originals by him, and "Beyond the Terra" was written by him and his son. He released the album as Space Sessions: Songs from a Tin Can in 2015.
Voyager 1 stopped sending readable science and engineering data back to Earth on Nov. 14, 2023, even though mission controllers could tell the spacecraft was still receiving their commands and otherwise operating normally.
Once every 176 years, the giant planets on the outer reaches of the solar system all gather on one side of the sun, and such a configuration was due to occur in the late 1970s.
Return to the Moon
Artemis II, scheduled for launch between February and April sees the return of the first people to the Moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Three American and one Canadian astronaut will orbit the Moon on a 10 day journey that lays the foundation for lunar landings in the coming years.
For quick calculations, the approximate conversion factors are; one Martian day = one earth day, one Martian hour = three Earth hours, one Martian minute = three Earth minutes, one Martian second = three Earth seconds.
After all, the twin on Earth can invoke time dilation: Moving clocks go slower, and so do the clocks of the moving twin. On these slower-moving clocks – and, by extension, in the whole spaceship – less time passes than on Earth, in other words: when the travelling twin returns, he is younger. No paradox so far.
The UPA, cramps and periods generally being a bit messy, mean many astronauts now choose to not menstruate on missions. By taking birth control in the form of a hormonal pill, people who menstruate can induce amenorrhea (say: uh-men-o-REE-uh).
Krikalev is a veteran cosmonaut, who spent a total of 803 days, 9 hours and 39 minutes in total in outer space. On December 26th 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed while Krikalev was still in Space. Due to the political complications that occured during the dissolution of the USSR, Krikalev spent 311 days in space.
NASA astronauts' salaries are based on the U.S. government's General Schedule (GS) pay scale, typically starting around the GS-12 to GS-13 level, with 2024 rates putting salaries between roughly $100,000 to over $150,000 annually, depending on experience and grade, with no extra pay for danger or overtime, only small daily incidentals while in space.
Fresh milk is yet another commodity prohibited in space due to its perishable nature. Milk would spoil within a few hours in the zero-gravity environment, which would be harmful for health if not refrigerated. Astronauts use powdered or ultra-pasteurized milk instead, which has a much longer shelf life.
According to a Poynter Fact Check: "NASA didn't actually send a woman to space with 100 tampons, like the song says. However, according to Ride, NASA did ask if that was the correct number." Not only is the number of tampons cited incorrect, but the premise of the video is also misleading.
Salt and pepper and other granular spices and seasonings can make for a huge mess in microgravity. There is a danger they could clog air vents, contaminate equipment or get stuck in an astronaut's eyes, mouth or nose.