Top 5 things we sent into space on Voyager

Written by: Gemma Arrowsmith
Published: Friday 17th February 2017

Gemma Arrowsmith is performing a live character-based comedy show themed around the topic of space. In this article she discusses some of the things that humanity has put on the Voyager probe for aliens to find. What were we thinking?

I've been obsessed with space since I was about this age.

Just let all the amazing details of that photo sink in and then we can carry on... All good? Great.

2017 marks the 40th anniversary of NASA's Voyager missions to the outer solar system. Voyager 1 is now in interstellar space and is the furthest human-made object from Earth. (Some have pointed out how lucky it is in that sense.)

(Comic by Chaz Hutton)

Aboard Voyagers 1 and 2 are golden phonograph records containing sounds and images from Earth. My new show Gemma Arrowsmith: EARTHLING is about whoever finds those records - and what they make of the contents.

To give you some idea of what images and music are on board, here are my top 5 interesting things we sent into space aboard Voyager.

1. Weird photo of how we eat

The team wanted to show aliens how we eat. This was the photo they chose for that.

This is meant to demonstrate licking, biting and drinking. a) Who drinks like that? b) Why is there a bite already taken out of the other side of the sandwich? c) Why is it framed with loads of space above their heads? (The answer to this is because of the guy drinking like a maniac.)

2. Not the Beatles

The late great Carl Sagan who spearheaded the whole Golden Record project wanted to include Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles on the record. All four members of the Beatles agreed; who wouldn't want their music to greet other intelligent life? But they didn't own the copyright and the whole idea was dropped because "the legal status of the piece seemed too murky to risk." Maybe aliens are terrible at paying their PRS fees, I don't know.

3. No smut

The team wanted to show how we reproduce but were under strict orders that ABSOLUTELY NO SMUT was to be sent into space. Their proposed image of a naked man and a naked pregnant woman holding hands was rejected and replaced with this far more informative image.

I think you'll agree this is a lot better than all that dirty disgusting nudity. The last thing we want is to be sending aliens raunchy photos.

4. Loads of bureaucrats' names

There are lots of greetings on the record. 55 of the world's most populous languages and one non-human language; whale song. President Jimmy Carter wrote a greeting and that led to teams of bureaucrats feeling that their names should be on board as well. So right now, 20 billion kilometres from Earth and hurtling away from us at 56,000km per hour, is a dry list of names of dudes in suits. But not The Beatles.

5. Humans failing

The team was criticised for not including images of all the negative things on Earth; death, disease, famine (although bureaucracy and politics were well covered). But we're certainly not portrayed as perfect. This is probably my favourite photo.

It shows a Sno-Cat straddling a crevasse. It's meant to demonstrate humanity's curiosity - but also our fallibility. And we're very, very fallible.

Come and find out just how fallible at my VAULT Festival show Gemma Arrowsmith: EARTHLING, 22-26 February 2017, 9:30pm. Info & Tickets

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