Space Capsule

II I
3
1
.---- .---- ..... .....
Space Capsule
“THE GOLDEN RECORD”
CAPSULE 01
CAPSULE 02
Space Space Capsule
The The Golden Golden Record Record
III II I
III II I
IV
IV V

.---- ....- 2
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

... .--. .- -.-. . / -.-. .- .--. ... ..- .-.. .
Space Capsule
“The Golden Record”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

Space Capsule
The Golden Record

∞
.--. .-. --- .-.. --- --. ..- .
PRELAUNCH
Prelaunch
Stargaze
prologue
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

.--. .-. --- .-.. --- --. ..- .
Albireo is the traditional name for the double star also designated
Beta Cygni (Cygni, abbreviated Beta Cyg, Cyg), although the
International Astronomical Union now regards the name as only
applying to the brightest component.[14] Despite being designated
‘beta’, it is fainter than Gamma Cygni, Delta Cygni, and Epsilon
Cygni and is the fifth-brightest point of light in the constellation of
Cygnus. Appearing to the naked eye to be a single star of magnitude
3, viewing through even a low-magnification telescope
resolves it into its two components. The brighter yellow star (actually
itself a very close binary system) makes a striking colour
contrast with its fainter blue companion.[9]Nomenclature[edit]
Cygni (Latinised to Beta Cygni) is the system’s Bayer designation.
The brighter of the two components is designated Cygni or
Beta Cygni A and the fainter Cygni or Beta Cygni B.The system’s
traditional name Albireo is a result of misunderstanding and mistranslation.
It is thought that it originated in the Greek name ornis
for the constellation of Cygnus, which became urnis in Arabic.
[15] When translated into Latin, this name was thought to refer to
the plant Sisymbrium officinale, and so was translated into a Latin
name for this plant, ireo. The phrase ab ireo was later treated
as a misprint of an Arabic term and transcribed as al-bireo.[16]
In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working
Group on Star Names (WGSN)[17] to catalog and standardize
proper names for stars. The WGSN’s first bulletin of July 2016[18]
included a table of the first two batches of names approved by
the WGSN; which included Albireo for Cygni. It is now so entered
in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.[14]Medieval Arabic-speaking
astronomers called Beta Cygni minqr al-dajjah (English: the hen’s
beak).[19] The term minqr al-dajjah or Menchir al Dedjadjet appeared
in the catalogue of stars in the Calendarium of Al Achsasi
Al Mouakket, which was translated into Latin as Rostrum Gallinǣ,
meaning the hen’s beak.[20] Since Cygnus is the swan, and Beta
Cygni is located at the head of the swan, it is sometimes called
the “beak star”.[21] With Deneb, Gamma Cygni (Sadr), Delta Cyg-
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

∞
.--. .-. --- .-.. --- --. ..- .
ni, and Epsilon Cygni (Gienah), it forms the asterism called the
Northern Cross.[22] Properties[edit] Beta Cygni is about 430
light-years (130 pc)[a] away from the Sun.Double star[edit]When
viewed with the naked eye, it appears to be a single star. However,
in a telescope it readily resolves into a double star, consisting
of Beta Cygni A (amber, apparent magnitude 3.1), and Beta Cygni
B (blue-green, apparent magnitude 5.1).[23] Separated by 35
seconds of arc,[12] the two components provide one of the best
contrasting double stars in the sky due to their different colors.
It is not known whether the two components are orbiting around
each other in a physical binary system, or if they are merely an
optical double. If they are a physical binary, their orbital period
is probably at least 100,000 years.[23] Some experts, however,
support the optical double argument, based on observations
that suggest different proper motions for the components, which
implies they’re unrelated.[24]Beta Cygni A[edit]The spectrum of
Beta Cygni A was found to be composite when it was observed
as part of the Henry Draper Memorial project in the late 19th century,
leading to the supposition that it was itself double.[25] This
Hi I’m Robert Krulwich. Some people go to therapy, some
to church. Others come here to the northwest corner of a
was supported by observations parking from lot 1898 on Fire Island to 1918 where most which nights showed
you’ll find a
that it had a varying radial velocity.[26] handful of people In looking 1923, up. the components
now called Beta Cygni Aa and Beta Cygni Ac were identified in the
Henry Draper Catalogue as HD “I 183912 come down here and quite often. HD 183913 respectively.[27][28]
In 1976 speckle interferometry was used to resolve
It’s a great place to stargaze.
the pair at the 2.1-meter telescope at the Kitt Peak National Observatory.[13][29]
It is also listed in the Washington Double Star
Catalog.[8] An orbit for the pair has since been computed using
interferometric measurements, but as only approximately a quarter
of the orbit has been observed, the orbital parameters must
be regarded as preliminary. The period of this orbit is 213 years.
[13] The current angular separation between the components is
around 0.4 arcseconds, too close to be visually resolved except
with instruments of at least 20” in aperture with exceptionally
stable atmospheric conditions.Beta Cygni B[edit] Beta Cygni B is
PRELAUNCH
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

.--. .-. --- .-.. --- --. ..- .
Albireo in the constellation Cygnus (Swan) appears as a single
point You got south of of light the ocean to in the background naked of eye, the crashing but waves, a Stass telescope the relaxation of shows it you know” it to be a
binary star: two stars bound together by their mutual gravitational
attraction. The stars take thousands of years to orbit around
each other. More than half of all stars live in binary systems. The
The night I visited this guy Ron was about one of 20 enthusiasts huddled over astral maps staring through telescopes
Sun is somewhat unusual in that it is solitary.
of all sizes . Some so big that it needed a ladder.
In Albireo one can see both stars -- one star is cool and appears
orange, the other hotter and blue. In more typical binaries, the
stars are so close together that only one source can be seen.
Even so, it is often possible to infer the presence of a companion,
as well as the properties of its orbit. This generally involves
studying the stellar spectrum (the distribution of its light over
many wavelengths, in “This the is quite same a quite a way telescope that you got” a rainbow shows the
wavelength distribution of sunlight). Knowing the binary orbit
lets us calculate the masses of both stars.Radio and X-ray images
of Albireo show nothing, because normal stars are much
brighter in visible light than at other wavelengths. We can make
radio and x-ray images of the Sun at all wavelengths because
it is so close. But for a more distant star, we usually cannot detect
radio waves or X-rays, “Thats a big unless cluster of stars. the Do you star get attached is somehow to certain stars?” unusual,
such as a star in orbit around a black hole. These binaries can
be very bright in X-rays.ALBIREO (Beta Cygni). One of the great
“Oh yeah. Mean you know the first one you ever found.”
small-telescope showpieces of the sky, Albireo, the third-magnitude
(3.0) Beta star of Cygnus, the Swan, is a magnificent visual
double whose components “Do you remember (magnitudes your first?” 3.3 and 5.5) have contrasting
golden and blue colors. Though given the second letter
of the Greek alphabet, the star actually comes in at number five
in brightness, beaten Yeah out Albireo, by Deneb the one I really (Alpha like.” Cygni), Sadr (Gamma),
Gienah (Epsilon), and Delta. Star colors are usually subtle, ranging
from a warm orange red to a hint of blue on white depending
“I realized I didn’t catch any your name actually.”
on the viewer’s eyes. But put a star of one color next to one of
another, and the eye seems to exaggerate both, delighting the
follower of double-star “John” astronomy. Waxing romantic, astrono-
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

∞
.--. .-. --- .-.. --- --. ..- .
mers have called the “What pair it is topaz that the and naked eye, sapphire. Albireo is a tiny With single star a but separation
when you look
of 34 seconds of arc, at it the through pair a telescope...look!” is easily seen at low telescopic
power. The name has a magnificently confused and mistranslated
“Oh my God they’re so bright lights through the telescope.”
origin, and means nothing at all with regard to its position at the
head of Cygnus the Swan. Albireo beautifully shows how an apparently
single star as viewed through the telescope can actually
Albireo looked like a headlight bright and flat in a close very immediate. But that was nothing compared to what
happened next. A woman walks up, points her finger at the star.
be double, such “binary” stars appearing all over the sky. Somewhere
around half, or even more, of the local stars are actually
members of some kind of double or multiple system, the stars in
orbit about each other. The stars that make Albireo, about 380
light years away, are quite far apart however, and if actually attached
gravitationally have an extremely long orbit with a period
“OKso is it.”
of at least 75,000 years. Albireo is actually triple. The brighter
yellow-colored member, “Is that Albireo the one up here” A, is a much closer double made
of a third magnitude (3.3) class K (K3) stable helium-fusing bright
giant and a hotter but dimmer (magnitude 5.5) class B (B9) hydrogen-fusing
dwarf, the two stars not readily separable in the
and touches it.
telescope. The K giant has a temperature of around 4400 Kelvin,
a luminosity 950 times that of the Sun, a radius 50 times solar,
and a hefty mass of about 5 solar, while the close companion
comes One right touches in at the star. 11,000 That was Kelvin, close. Describe 100 what you solar just said luminosities, please. I turned on my and ringlets 3.2 and I pointed solar
masses. at the stars. It was On one average of the coolest things separated I have ever ever by ever about seen. Her name 40 was Astronomical Linda. She had a pen that Units, was
a laser. When she turned it on a focused bright green beam of light sprung from her hand to star like a long green
they take almost 100 years to go about each other on highly
fingers she literally touched the star and for a moment I forgot the ground underneath my feet and that that star Albireo
was 50 million light years away. It seemed right.
eccentric orbit. The visually-seen blue star, Albireo B, is similar
to Albireo A’s companion, and is a class B (B8) dwarf with a temperature
of 12,100 Kelvin, a luminosity of 190 Suns, and a mass
“I mean what do you see when you look up. Besides you know nebulous and stars
of 3.3 solar. It distinguishes itself by being a very rapid rotator
and star clusters. What do you sort of look for exactly.”
with an equatorial velocity of at least 250 kilometers per second
and a rotation period “Well less you than can really 0.6 see sort days. of like where As is you so are in often the universe the or at case least in
among such fast-spinning our own galaxy. stars, Albireo B is a “B-emission star”
that is losing matter and is surrounded by a disk of gas of its own
making. From Albireo B, Albireo A would appear as brilliant orbiting
And it orange makes like a and very interesting blue perspective points for about yourself. You half know a and degree like what life apart, is like here the and K what giant life
must be like in other worlds and whether or not there’s other planets out there with people or different lifeforms that
shining with the light of 35 full Moons, the close class B companwe
can’t comprehend.
PRELAUNCH
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

----- -----
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
01
----- .----
CAPSULE 01
Capsule 01
Interstellar Mission
document 01
I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II
IV

----- ..---
02
We are a speck on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a s
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
1977
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
on a speck on a speck on a speck
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
03
----- ...--
peck on a speck
This is Radiolab on Jad Abumrad, today on our program
we’re going to project our minds out there the great beyond
and ask some basic questions. Here to help as always. “Hi”
is Robert Krulwich. And in this hour we discover how big.
Oh sorry. And in this hour we find ourselves in space we
discover how immense how huge space is and then we ask
ourselves now where does that leave us. “We are a speck on
a speck on a speck on a speck” and is astrophysicist Neil
deGrasse Tyson will remind us later in the program.
CAPSULE 01
It is difficult for little specks like us to find walWWking
talking intelligent specks somewhere else in the universe. But
say what you will we are trying.
Speaking of which. Let’s begin by rewinding the clock back
to 1977. OK.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
I
III II I
IV

----- ....-
04
This is a big year for the space program because in August
of that year NASA launched a spacecraft carrying a gold
record. You remember this right. Remember the record that
carried a message from us to them our story.
“cosmos is all that is or ever was or ever will be”
No it was Carl Sagan with “cosmos is all that is or ever was
or ever will be” who led the team that made the record and
that team included who was headed by Annie Druyan and
visited Annie at her home in Ithaca, New York and we sat
in the backyard near a waterfall in the same spot she says
where Carl himself would sit and become so absorbed in
what he was reading that he would not notice a deer standing
right next to him
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
05
----- .....
My name is Annie Druyan. And I was honored to be the
creative director of the Voyager Interstellar message project
which began in early 1977.
CAPSULE 01
But how did this come about.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
I
III II I
IV

----- -....
06
I think about the project now and it’s so exciting to think
about. I mean it’s such a romantic idea that you know that at
the time absolutely we felt first of all that this was a kind of
sacred trust that here we were half a dozen and very flawed
human beings with huge huge holes in our knowledge of all
of these subjects.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
07
----- --...
Building a cultural Noah’s Ark it was a chance to tell something
of what life on earth was like to beings of perhaps a
thousand million years from now because the Voyager engineers
were saying this record will have a shelf life of a billion
years. If that didn’t raise goosebumps. Then you’d have to be
made of wood.
CAPSULE 01
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
I
III II I
IV

----- ---..
08
It was also the season that Carl Sagan and I fell madly in
love with each other.
And here we were taking on this mythic challenge and
knowing that before it was done two spacecraft would lift
off from the planet earth moving at an average speed of thirty
five thousand miles an hour for the next thousand million
years. And on it we’d be the kiss a mother’s first words to her
newborn baby Mozart. Greetings in the 59 most populous
human languages.
Oh my gosh. Hello children. As well as one non-human
language the greetings to the humpback whales. And it was
a sacred undertaking because it was saying we want to be
citizens of the cosmos. They want you to know about to us.
Tell me how you fell in love with Carl Sagan. You said it was
during the Voyager compilation.
Yes it was.
“fell madly in love”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
09
----- ----.
It was on June 1st 1977. I had been looking for some time
for that piece of Chinese music that we could put on the
Voyager record and not feel like idiots for having done so.
And I was very excited because I finally found a ethnomusicologist
composer at Columbia University, who told
me without a moment’s hesitation that this piece flowing
streams which was represented to me as one of the oldest
pieces of Chinese music. Twenty five hundred years old
was the piece we should put on the record. So I called
Caro who was traveling.
He was in Tucson Arizona giving a talk. And Dan we
have been alone many times during the making of the record
and his friends for three years and neither of us had
ever said anything to the other both about people we’d
had these wonderful soaring conversations. But we had
both been really just professional about everything and
his friends and he wasn’t there left a message. Our later
phone rings pick up the phone and I hear this wonderful
voice. Then he said I’ll get back to my hotel room and I
find this message and it says any card. And I say to myself
Why didn’t you leave me this message 10 years ago.
CAPSULE 01
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
I
III II I
IV

.---- -----
10
And my heart completely skipped a beat.
I still remember it so perfectly. And I said for keeps. Then
he said You mean get married. And I said yes and we never
kissed. We never you know even had any kind of personal
discussion before.
We both hung up the phone and I just screamed out loud.
I remember it so well because it was this great eureka moment.
It was just like scientific discovery.
And then the phone rang and I was thinking Oh shit. And
the phone rang and it was Carl and I said I just want to
make sure that really happened. We’re getting married right.
I said yeah we’re getting married. He said OK just wanted
to make sure. And um spacecraft lifted off on August 20th
and August 22nd. We told everyone involved and we were
together from that moment until his death in 1996 .
“Wow talking about romantic”
“yeah we’re getting married”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
11
.---- .----
And part of my feeling about Voyager obviously and part
of what I was feeling in the recording of my brainwaves my
heart, my eyes everything in that meditation on that record.
I had asked Carl whether or not would be possible to compress
the impulses in one’s brain and nervous system into
sound and then put that sound on the record and then think
that perhaps the extra terrestrials of the future would be able
to reconstitute that data into thought. He looked at me in
a beautiful May Day in New York City and said Well you
know thousand million years is a long time. You know why
don’t you go do it. Because you know,you know who knows
what’s possible in a thousand million years. And so on my
brain waves and R.E.M. every little sound that my body was
making was recorded at Bellevue Hospital in New York. This
was two days after Carlin I declared our love for each other.
And so what I often think is that maybe a hundred million
years from now you know somebody flags that record down.
And I always wonder because part of what I was thinking
and this meditation was about the wonder of love and of
being in love and to know it’s on those two spacecraft.
CAPSULE 01
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
I
III II I
IV

.---- ..---
12
Even now whenever I’m down you know I’m thinking it’s
still the moon. Thirty five thousand miles an hour leaving
our solar system for that great wide open sea of interstellar
space billions of years from now the sun will have reduced
this planet to a charred Ashie ball. But that record with
androgens brain waves and heartbeat on it will still be out
there somewhere intact in some remote region of the Milky
Way preserving a murmur of an ancient civilization that
once flourished on a distant planet.
Two hearts on a wing that is lovely right.
Yeah it is.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
13
.---- ...--
“leaving our solar system for that great open sea of interstellar.”
CAPSULE 01
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
I
III II I
IV

I
CAPSULE 01
document 03
Sending Stuff to Space
document 02
III II I
IV

.---- -....
16
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
17
.---- --...
This hour we’re talking about space sending stuff into space.
Little messages in bottles or capsules as it works that the
Extra-Terrestrial of the future might one day find if there
are any. Well yes. But surely there are. I mean some Andrine
space capsule is bound to run into someone and they’ll know
about us. Well just a second here. I know that the end story
was beautiful and that you’re in some kind of romantic haze.
He would just give a little more cold hearted here about solid
fact you might feel differently about this whole thing. What
do you mean. Paul what do you think is the likelihood of
Ann’s message of love ever being read by an intelligent alien
somewhere.
CAPSULE 01
“cold hearted here about solid fact you might feel differently about this whole thing.”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

.---- ---..
18
I see where you’re going with this what do you have to ask
the question of is just a gesture. It’s like a romantic thing.
No this isn’t the attempt I think to be fair to her at a real
conversation. She wants someone to hear about this but the
chances are so remote when you consider the vastness of
space spose for example you wanted to visit just make it easy
the very next star to us. OK. Actually it’s too lucky to meet
a civilization I think would be so hard to come out and find
one of the very first stop let’s go for stars out to a star called
Zeta to come I see even if I like I mean I looked it up.
If we increase the speed of the Voyager capsule and Dorian’s
message from thirty five thousand miles an hour that’s how
far she has gone right now.
That’s right Chris that speed to say a million miles an hour.
How long do you think would it take for you to get to zeta
to search. 300 years from thirty thousand years. Seriously.
Well this boomeranged is a twelve hundred generation chip
you know where the boom runs were 1200 generations ago
where they were living in a cave beating on a drum. That’s
what they were doing. So imagine a space trip in which
you have to go forward. Twelve hundred generations that’s
a long trip. You’re such a downer. You think that’s tough.
Listen to this. There’s a whole another problem we’re going
to have to deal with not the problem of distance in this case
there’s a problem of time. We have one of those too. Every
civilization has an ark.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
19
.---- ----.
You can think of it in three steps:
Step one.
Step two.
And step three.
What the hell is that. Well a million years ago we were practically
apes. We hardly begun to have conversation. Now we
have technology we have radio and TV and the universe can
hear us every day. How long will it be do you think before
either global warming or for some kind of war.
CAPSULE 01
The way the news has been recently days weeks. In any case
I’m going to guess like 100 million years or ten million years
but that’s still a flash of time in a universe. Now suppose
instead of one civilization let’s have two civilizations another
one out there if they arrive on earth ready to talk and we’re
all then there’s no way to have a conversation.
On the other hand if they arrive on Earth after that. And
there’s nobody to talk to. And in a 14 billion year universe
with each civilization lasting in only 10 million years what
are the chances of two civilizations lining up in perfect synchrony
so they can have a conversation. It’s almost mathematically
impossible. Yeah fine fine.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

..--- -----
20
But you have to keep something in mind though. Right. But
as a rule people who make the argument you’re making right
now pessimists as it were as a rule those people are usually
proven wrong. And so that’s always how it goes.
..--- .----
Well in the history of human navigation lots of things have
seemed too long and too far away until someone did them.
This is the guy who produced the Voyager record. His name
is Tim Ferriss.
I mean settling Polynesia in canoes navigating by the stars
and the currents alone hitting a tiny island after crossing
hundreds or even thousands of miles of open ocean. That’s
a pretty lonely scary thing to do. And yet thousands of Polynesians
did it. So I don’t know what our future in interstellar
space flight will be but it is important to keep in mind that
the record of people who said that this or that journey of
exploration is impossible or ill advised. Historically those
sorts of predictions have not fared very well.
Yes you just hold your horses all right. I mean look Tim is
talking about the Pacific Ocean which is big but I’m talking
about the universe. Mine is a much much bigger space and
therefore a much much much bigger problem. I want I want
to ask questions about space. Yes. I usually go to this guy.
ou know I really like have me here. I hear you through that
speaker but not through my headphones. Who is this.
This is Brian Greene professor of mathematics and physics
at Columbia University. OK. So Jeff I said to Brian if we’ve
got a spacecraft crawling through this vast vast empty universe
how long a trip is it for just to start from wherever it
is now to get to the end of the universe and by the what is
where is the end of the universe. That’s a very natural question.
You know in most environments you can walk for a
while but then you hit the end you hit the end of the city the
end of the state the end of the country. But when it comes to
the universe we believe that there’s probably no edge. There
is no end.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
21
..--- .----
Now how do you picture that. Well one possibility is it may
be that the universe just goes on forever.
Space may just carry on you just keep on going and you’ll
just never run out of space. The other possibility is it could
be that you walk off into space for a while and you keep on
walking and after a while you realize that you’ve actually
circled back to your starting point. Sort of like on the surface
of the Earth you don’t find an edge you can’t fall off the
earth surface because when you walk ultimately you come
back to you starting point. That idea may apply to the fabric
of space to the entire cosmos.
Although the Earth analogy is a little insufficient cause when
I’m walking in Central Park I am on the edge of the earth
because when I look down I see Earth. But when I look up
I see none earth I see gas around the Earth. So I’m at the
edge. Well if I were on a balloon I’m on the surface of the
balloon looking out at non balloon ness.
Yeah that’s where the analogy fails. If you’re on the surface
of the earth you can jump off you can jump up. So feel like
you’re on an edge but in the universe there is no notion of
jumping off because there is nothing beyond the space that
we inhabit. It is all there is and there is nothing outside of it.
CAPSULE 01
And now to make things even harder for our little capsule
traveling through space we now know that space that the
universe and the space that it is is expanding constantly expanding.
So imagine our little craft all alone in nothingness
and every minute theres more nothingness and more nothing
more nothing. Has this always been happening.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

..--- ..---
22
We think its been happening since the very beginning. So if
the Big Bang was the origin of the universe then this expansion
has been going on for thirteen point seven billion years.
So theres more space all the time. Yes.
Does that mean that it takes a longer time to go from one
part of the universe to another.
Absolutely absolutely.
So when you say something like say The universe is expanding
what that seems to mean to you is that the empty spaces
in the universe are getting bigger. Yes. So the intuitive but
wrong picture would be that you picture the universe expanding
into a pre-existing space a preexists existing realm
that the universe is now filling like a balloon like a balloon
filling say the room in which you blowing it up. But that imagery
is wrong in the following way.
“as the universe expands, it creates more space”
Its not that the universe is expanding into a pre-existing
space. Its that as the universe expands it creates more space
it creates the new space that it then inhabits.
Does that mean that there is no middle of the universe.
Yes. The old idea was that there is a central point in the universe
and the old idea was that we were at that central point
in the universe but in the current way and more modern way
of thinking about the universe.
There is no center. The universe is actually expanding but its
not expanding from a certain point in space. All of space is
stretching uniformly.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
23
..--- ...--
Brian Greene is professor of physics and mathematics at
Columbia University. This leaves us in a sort of strange position
lonely position in the sense that we have this little capsule
riding somewhere in a space which just keeps changing.
We don’t know where it is or where we are relative to other
things and whatever we know is changing all the time.
It used to be so different. Neil deGrasse Tyson who runs
the Hayden Planetarium in New York City says once upon
a time we knew where we were always we thought we knew
where we were and we were the stars well before Copernicus
The idea of our place in the universe was largely accepted to
be the center.
It looked that way for sure. You stand here on Earth and
look up and the sun rises and sets and the moon rises and
sets and the stars rise and set and the planets rise and set.
When Copernicus came around he put the sun in the middle
of the known universe allowing the planets to then go
around the sun relegating Earth to the status of a planet
being one of these objects that goes around the sun.
That was a very dangerous idea at the time apparently?
CAPSULE 01
Yes because that idea conflicted with all prevailing interpretation
of scripture. It had deep societal ramifications and
Copernicus knew this. He knew it so well that he said I’m
going to make sure I’m dead before this hits the bestseller
list. So you didn’t want to publish during his own lifetime.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

..--- ....-
24
This book was basically published on his death bed Copernicus’s
$6400. Fifteen fifteen. Oh yeah. Fifteen forty three
I think was the date.
So now what happens. So. So now we’re no longer humankind
is no longer at the center of things. Now what.
Well we’re no longer at the center of the known universe
then the known universe was the objects of the solar system
the planets. But you look up at the night sky beyond the
planets what do you see stars there are stars in every direction.
If you count how many stars are to your left. How
many are to your right. How many are above and below. It’s
about the same in every direction you look.
Hey maybe even if Earth is not the center of the solar system
the solar system is in the center of the rest of the universe.
There you. That’s the ticket. OK. Now we can dig out
of this hole that Copernicus put isn’t. Let’s go ahead and
do that. What group is king. No. Our little family of planets
were in the center.
And so that prevailed for a while because it’s a comforting
concept not only for the public but for the scientists as well.
It wasn’t until the 1920s where Harlow Shapley then head
of Harvard College Observatory noticed globular clusters.
Those were more in one direction or the sky than the other.
And he deduced that these things oughta know where the
center of gravity is rather than the measly handful of stars
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
25
..--- .....
that are sitting in front of us around on the sky. I mean these
big fat concentrations of say fat hundred thousand star
beehive concentrations of stars star clusters. They ought to
know where the center of the galaxy is. Even if the single
stars don’t. And so he deduced that the center of the Galaxy
was off in the direction of Sagittarius on the Sky.
“hundred thousand star beehive”
OK so now people are fighting that people fighting that. But
then all hell breaks loose because 19 twenties come in. Edwin
Hubble grabs the business end of the biggest telescope
of the day and determines that these fuzzy things among
the stars are not the same distance as the stars themselves.
They’re vastly farther away.
In fact you know they kind of look like what this collection
of stars might look like from a far. In fact maybe they are
other milky ways, maybe they are other galaxies, maybe
we’re not the whole story by man while the sky keeps getting
bigger and bigger and deeper and deeper.
CAPSULE 01
Oh this was terrible for the ego. I can tell you I’m disappointed
myself. Oh man. And so now. OK maybe we’re in
the center of the universe. Let’s hope for that because we
look this way we see about the same number of galaxies this
way is that way is that way is that way. Kind of looks like
we’re at the center and they’re all receding from us. So hey
we’re at the center you know but by now we’re smarter than
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

..--- -....
26
this. Now we’re saying we’re not going to fall for that. OK.
We fall for that one nine times already. We’re not going to
fall for this again. You mean somebody sitting there in the
corner thinking every time we make ourselves the star of the
show we’re wrong.
So we’re not going to make that mistake again. And so you
then apply Einstein’s general theory of relativity and it says
if you live in an expanding universe in this fabric of space
and time no matter where you are it will look like you’re at
the center.
Which means that there is no center Yes every center is an illusion.
Yes. And so that’s how we could look like we’re at the
center of the actual universe even though we’re not because
everybody sees the same signature of the expansion. Now
there is an even stronger argument for then the numerics.
Let’s look at the ingredients of the human body. You learn
from biology class we’re mostly water. But what is water
mostly hydrogen hydrogen. Look in the cosmos. The number
one ingredient in the cosmos is hydrogen.
Next in the universe oxygen next on earth and in life oxygen.
Next in the universe carbon Nexon life carbon next to the
universe nitrogen next don’t like nitrogen one for one. You
go down the list. We are not simply in this universe the universe
is in us.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
27
..--- --...
So we’re not the center of the universe we’re on the side then
our gang is not the center of everything but it’s just out on a
wing and then a galaxy that we’re a part of is one of many.
And the fact that we are alive is maybe not unique.
I guess some how can we go we can go lower Are you ready.
You want to go lower. Yeah. OK.
We may not even be the principal stuff of the universe.
That’s how insignificant we are. OK.
We have learned the universe has this stuff that has gravity
but doesn’t otherwise interact with matter as we know it. It
doesn’t shine it doesn’t reflect it doesn’t block it’s dark. It’s
called dark matter.
CAPSULE 01
“there is no center”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

..--- ---..
28
So how much of the universe is the stuff that we can either
see or that is blocked. But we can detect 4 percent. Think
low. Tell us how can we know 96 percent of the universe is
missing 96 percent universe. It’s not us it’s something else.
Is it your working bias that if I came to you with a new discovery
in which you were less important or discovery which
proposed that we were more important that you would guess
that my scientific discovery that we are less important is
more likely to be right. No doubt about it. That’s correct.
Now you call that a bias but I don’t I call that track record.
OK. Track record we have among our exhibits here are a
timeline of the universe that begins with the big bang and
you walk the equivalent length of one hundred yards and
time goes by with every step you take. Seventy million years
depending on how long your legs are. Seventy million you’re
perched up perched up and you do that for 100 yards and
you get near the bottom. It’s a gently sloping ramp. You get
to the bottom of the ramp and then you’re reminded that
65 million years ago the dinosaurs were roaming the earth
ready to become extinct. And then you take one more step
on this ramp and you reach modern day.
“missing 96 percent universe”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
29
..--- ----.
Well at the end of that rant we have mounted a single strand
of human hair. The left side of that hair. Cavemen were
drawing cave paintings. The right side of that hair is this
conversation right now. So we are a speck on a speck on a
speck on a speck and the speck that you just heard talking
was over six feet tall by the way is Neil deGrasse Tyson astrophysicist
and director of the Hayden Planetarium in New
York City.
You see that right there though is why I think a lot of people
don’t like science. But this is anytime that anyone normal
wants to say that we are important. There is some scientist in
the corner yelling back science is preference but I’m not you
know I think artists Shakespeare for example who says what
a piece of work is man how noble in reason at all. It seems
like it’s arch job to say that we are special significant glorious
and it’s science’s job to say no we’re not. Right. Well maybe
art is where we should go next.
CAPSULE 01
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

I
CAPSULE 01
document 03
Cursed Seeds?
document 03
III
II I
IV

...-- ..---
32
“one seed, tiny little seed poking its head out of a massive cup”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
33
...-- ...--
We’re looking at space more specifically our place in it our
place in the cosmos. It’s big. Yes but since as you mentioned
before the break sometimes artists have their own particular
ways of tilting things back in our favor.
Let me introduce you to someone introduce yourself. He’s an
artist. I’m of blood. Dario Robelto, artist live in Centennial
Texas. I ran into doppio actually in New York at the Whitney
Museum. He was 27 and this was his first solo show my
first show here in New York. Her other show at the Whitney
sculpture mostly.
CAPSULE 01
That’s his main thing. But on a side wall he was displaying
some photographs. Tell me tell me what we’re looking at
which I asked him to show me it’s a series of seven digital
photographs framed on the wall side by side seven photos
all showing the same thing. Tomato seeds seeds that are at
different stages of blossoming. Think back to kindergarten.
That’s what these remind you of the day your teacher came
in and said OK class we’re going to grow some seeds. These
pictures are of that day or more specifically the day the seeds
actually grew because each photo and there are seven shows
one seed tiny little seed poking its head out of a massive
Cup. So what I did was these are custom made porcelain
cups. If you can imagine the size of a styrofoam cup.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

...-- ....-
34
Dario made the cups, put some dirt and a seed inside and
then crammed the top full of cotton cotton which is also
another schoolroom element. Final step when the seeds grew
like right at the moment that they grew he snapped photos.
Each one had a slightly different stage of development but
basically it’s it’s that moment when the leaves are pushing it
like you know waking up from a long sleep which that one
kind of looks like yawning and your arms go up in the air.
Also I should point out that there’s text printed right on the
cups just as if you know a kid had written their name or
something and loopy cursive. And you read me the name
people. Yeah so we have. Him James Smith a fire Scoby SC
McAuliffe Jay Reznick machines maybe you recognize those
names. Maybe not.
But here’s the backstory star hotels. It’s 1984. Everyone’s
excited about space and NASA. NASA built this probe it’s
called the LDA. Stands for the long duration environmental
facility. This is a probe that was basically meant to store
things for long periods of time. So it had all these compartments
52 compartments I believe and NASA for the first
time opened to the public. It was brilliant PR. They said OK
America we’ve got this prob with all these compartments.
What would you like to send into space? They kind of said
You send in a proposal for what you’d like to put on board
and we’ll consider consider people of all stripes and in ideas
and farms paint samples pond water all the way to our
group of school kids got together and said hey can we put
some seeds onboard.
“group of school kids got together and said hey can we put some seeds onboard”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
35
...-- .....
So NASA is I think seeing the great potential and what
these children proposed furthers the experiment a bit and
put aboard a lot of seats for the sole purpose that when they
returned they would be redistributed to the classrooms as a
cool space seed artifacts. April 6, 1984 the probe filled with
seeds and all kinds of things goes aboard the space shuttle it
goes aboard on the Space Shuttle Challenger launches successfully
probe is deployed from the Challenger and it was
scheduled to be picked up on the next shuttle mission by the
challenger. Well the day on that pickup mission was the day
the Challenger exploded.
Coming up on 30 second point in a countdown. To my
friend. We better go for it. For one thing if the procedures
are understood in a flash seven people were gone. And
America changed its mind about space and the whole space
program got put on hiatus for I think it was almost two
years. And meanwhile that little probe that the Challenger
had been on its way to get in which was only supposed to be
up there for about 9 months.
This is a case where something literally got lost in space because
this is floating out there. This probe designed for nine
months ends up sitting in orbit for almost seven years.
CAPSULE 01
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

...-- -....
36
January 19th 1990. The probe is finally brought back after
seven years. Another space shuttle mission this time without
fanfare. All the kids that would have wanted those seeds
were grown up. They didn’t know or care anymore and the
only people that did were collectors.
NASA geeks, including myself Dorio, was able to obtain
some of those seeds that were aboard that day through an
online auction. Luckily there were a vacuum sealed the
whole time. But they were incredibly moody little seeds.
They did not want to cooperate.
He planted the seeds in the cotton field cups and the seeds
did break through the cotton like spaceships bursting
through clouds and right as they did he snapped photos. But
then days later and suddenly. They all died. All of them so
none of these seeds are alive anymore now. And and I are
one of them too. And like I said that just. Something just
isn’t right anymore. I had originally wanted to take them to
full bloom. It it just wasn’t meant to be. But getting it here
was quite Americorp. So I’ll take the stage if you will fully
invest in the illusion of a photograph as Doria does.
This stage means that the seeds in everything they represent
the lives of the crew the hope of a class of schoolkids. Is
frozen alive again forever forever in every way for ever.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
37
...-- --...
“Columbia has been seen apparently breaking up in the skies”
Then again this is just an art project. Sometimes reality
doesn’t cooperate because here’s the sad coda to this story
it turns out the shuttle that picked up the probe in 1990 and
brought it back was the Columbia and just before Doria was
preparing to show his pictures just by coincidence I had the
photographs laid out in front of me going over some framing
issues.
When the tragedy was first reported that morning we were
breaking in with the sad news this morning the space shuttle
Columbia has been seen apparently breaking up in the skies
over Texas as it returned to earth shortly after 9:00 a.m.
Eastern Time this morning.
CAPSULE 01
Search and rescue teams are now suddenly the only two
shuttles that exceeds ever had anything to do as were the
two that were lost it really hit me hard. Dario Robelto was
an artist who lives in San Antonio Texas. nobody promised
that space travel would be safe or pleasant or easy or even
rewarding. All that was promised was that it would be an
adventure. And sometimes we were in the mood.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

IIII II I
CAPSULE 01
document 03
Motivation for Journey
document 03 04
IV

....- -----
40
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
41
....- .----
“1962”
President Kennedy 1962 makes a speech which if you read
about it in her written tests you know that some Persian king
decreed that we would walk on the moon we chose to go to
the moon.
We choose to go. It was the stuff of dreams we choose to
go to the bone and then do the other thing not because they
are but because they are. Not well organized and measure
the best. Of our energies and skills. Because that challenge is
one that we’re willing to accept what we are willing to postpone
and one we.
CAPSULE 01
Now of course it was in reality part of the worst part of the
Cold War and the menace of the nuclear arms race. But it
brought out the very best in a whole bunch of people. And
I remember feeling first walking on the moon and Americans
first walked on the moon you know I was raised at my
government’s conduct in the world horrified by it but I had
to admit that it made me really proud. And then as soon
as NASA became involved with space shuttle we lost the
grand purpose and it was very much to me as a mother of
two children remembering when they were young men when
they weretoddlers and their first learning to walk they would
run away from me and encounter some frightening reality.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

....- ..---
42
12 feet away and then turn around and come running back
to be around my ankles. And that’s what the last 25 years
of the space program has been like a kind of retreat to our
mother’s skirts.
Yeah according to Annie drawn somewhere around the
space shuttle we lost our nerve. Yeah although there is now
a new generation of people who would be space explorers
and who say in the loudest possible way we don’t want to be
sissies in space anymore. But of course.
We’ve got about the government always is the person taking
us there be this guy. But I put forward here the government
is not going to get us there. The government is unable to
take the risks required to open up this precious frontier. The
shuttle is costing a billion dollars a launch. That’s a pathetic
number that’s unreasonable.
That was Peter Diamandis remember him guy who offered
the X Prize the X Prize the X PRIZE for a global contest to
build the first commercially manned space ship that space
prize. Right. He was at a conference in Oxford in England
called Ted global. It was an audience filled with entrepreneurs
and technologists and he said to them you know why
I created this prize. You know it’s really going to get people
interested in space exploring space taking risks in space
again as we go forward. And here his instinct is kind of different
from any. What’s going to bring people back to space
he says. Is wealth money.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
43
....- ...--
“worth something like 20 trillion dollars”
In fact the greatest wealth we think about these other asteroids
wealth. Asteroid’s think how much you could make
if you could own an asteroid. There a class with the nickel
iron which in platinum group metal markets alone are worth
something like 20 trillion dollars. We can go out and grab
one of these rocks. Now my plan is actually by putting on
the precious metal market and then actually claiming that
to go out and get one that will fund the actual mission to go
and get one hold on.
What a what a puts it is what you do to finance. Grab one
of those rocks as he puts it. But the key here remember is
that you’ve got to create a business and to do that you need
a business plan some reason to invest and build and do it for
that he has actually kind of a cool phrase we need what I call
an exothermic economic reaction in space which in ordinary
English means it’s got to be some way to get entrepreneurs
to spend money their own money on some kind of space
stuff. And how exactly. Well his first notion was he would
sell tickets to rich billionaire. He sold a seat on the Russian
space shuttle the Soyuz for 20 million dollars $20 billion.
CAPSULE 01
What are that under. It is expensive but people are willing
to pay that. And not only people I know. But yeah I guess
you’re not going to get a whole lot of people at prizes. So
then he came up with a bigger bolder broader plan which
was a prize prize because remember when Charles Lindbergh
flew across the Atlantic No I don’t remember I wasn’t
born yet. That’s true. Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic to win
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

....- ....-
44
a prize. That’s really why crossed. Seriously. Yeah. For a cash
prize. Peter thought why don’t I create a prize of my own.
And he came up with the number ten million bucks that
would be the prize. Now why ten million because it was just
big enough to be really attractive to young scientific teams
all over the world 10 million dollars and just small enough to
be boring to conservative clunky companies like Lockheed
and you would never think of anything interesting anyway.
He’s trying to split the difference. Yeah but you know Peter
doesn’t have that kind of money. He’s not a government. So
where do you get 10 million.
Probably the most difficult thing that I had to do was raise
the capital for this. I went to 100 200 CEOs the most. No
one believed it was done. What does NASA think. Well people
are going to die. How can you possibly put this forward.
And what I ended up doing was going out to the insurance
industry and buying a hole in one insurance policy.
“buying a hole in one insurance policy”
You know how rare it is to hit a hole in one on a golf course.
Yeah. Well the insurance industry will make you a betting
proposition. If you go to the insurance company say I bet
that I can go up and down space twice in the same two week
period they go. Now you can’t say well I’ll give you a million
dollars in premiums if you give me a 10 million dollar insurance
policy. He made the offer. My insurance company said
well this isn’t going to happen right.
The insurance companies went to Boeing and Lockheed and
said Are you going to compete. Now you’re going to compete.
No. So no one’s going to win this thing. So they took a
bet that no one would win by January of 05 and I took a bet
that someone would win.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
45
....- .....
And amazingly. Today pilot Mike Melvill made aviation history
just two months before the deadline. A privately funded
rocket plane spaceship one flew to the edge of space in a privately
funded vehicle though and the best thing is that they
paid off him and that checked him down. Plus he got tons of
publicity he incentivize young scientists all over the world.
He did it with other people’s money but then just as he was
finishing the presentation there was this guy in the room who
got up and said I almost wasn’t going to ask this because I
didn’t want to end on a negative note said you know Peter
Diamandis. Maybe you’re not that brilliant.
Maybe all you are is lucky by encouraging innovation. So
effectively you are encouraging risk taking and it isn’t inevitable
that sooner or later there will be deaths as a result. Absolutely.
And you’re also a little too enthusiastic. You’ve also
made a very coherent explanation of why frankly in terms
terms investing in prizes is very very good value because
you’ve got vast amounts of publicity and you’re assuming
it’s all good publicity. But I can just see the again the US
broadcast media and the British press media ripping you to
shreds because you’ve encouraged lots of innocent young 25
year olds from Romania and Argentina or a motive to kill
themselves. OK well it’s an important answer guys. I mean
I’m going to pick my head I’m an American. I am thankful
that 500 years ago thousands of people gave their lives to
cross the Atlantic and explore the Americas and then thankful
that that 200 years ago they crossed the great plains. No
one has the right to say for my children and their children
that we shouldn’t take the risk now to open these frontiers.
And if it’s up to the individual to risk their lives so be it.
CAPSULE 01
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

....- -....
46
That that’s that’s. That was a copout answer. I have to say
because when those people he’s referring to the people
crossed the Atlantic crossed the plains when they did all
those things and then when many of them died I mean thousands
of thousands I’m sure you ate well when they died
those early Americans they died alone.
There were no TV cameras around. There’s no Scott Simon
on the radio. They were by themselves. I think you’re right.
It’s a completely different time when you make it sensational
people will die sensationally. Then what’s going to happen
to the money and the entrepreneurs and the businessmen.
Right. Exactly right. Businessmen don’t exactly have a sterling
reputation for sticking by their guns if you have a small
financial problem showing up in Brazil people all over the
world pull their money out of Brazil and you get a total rush
for the exit.
It’s true they’re always the first to leave you know money.
Well it’s good motivators to get us back to space. But once
you get there it’s got to be about something more than that.
Like what. Well because I agree with you about it. I don’t
even know what to call it exactly but you certainly hear it.
Take. The last transmissions from the moon December of
1972. Last time we were there. Yeah. The last time we were
there. The voices you hear of those astronauts coming back
when you hear them talking.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
47
....- --...
Ignition sequence all you hear something else do we have
to have them in place and by the way we are trying to work
with our honor or as we were laughing. Where is it ?tAre you
excited for it? The last transmission from the men. Produced
by Barrett Golding for hearing voices that come to him. ¥
Music natural sounds heart beats all kinds of different
sounds which represent life on Earth so that it would go on
this record go into a capsule with a shot into space and one
day billions of years from now be discovered by some alien
lifeform within.
Although there are six plus billion Earthlings right now and
the best thing I think about Earth is that so various. So you
can get six plus billion versions of being an earthly. Yeah like
if you are any Troyan Carl Sagan What would your recipe
of us be. So we asked a bunch of people who are comedian
Margaret Cho, graphic novelist Michael Cunningham an
author, and a very famous chef Alice Waters they all sort of
you know told us what they would send.
Play the record and then know about us. That’s the idea. We
thought what a cool somewhat naive but amazing idea. And
it got us thinking what would we do if we could put stuff on
that record. So then we began to ask people around us and
eventually track down some writers chefs artists different
kinds of folks were out there in the public eye and asked
them what would you put on the record.
CAPSULE 01
“what would you put on the record?”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III II I
IV

IN
....- ---.. 48
no one is.
IT
IS
IT
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

I
49
IN
....- ----.
IT
IS
I
III II I
CAPSULE 01
IT
Sapce Capsule
The Golden Record
IV

..... -----
50
“a moment of spring here at the restaurant.”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

II
51
..... .----
CAPSULE 02
Capsule 02
Alice Walters // Chef
record 01
II
I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III
IV V

..... ..---
52
I don’t know you know if somebody know I can sing yeah
like Alice Waters and I ran Chez Panisse restaurant in
Berkeley California. No one would believe.
I thought about this. The first thing that came to my mind
was a table because that’s a place where people come together
to eat. Everyone has to eat. And normally people of all
cultures have. Gathered around a table of sorts. Maybe not.
A table that had chairs all around maybe a fabric that was
laid out on the floor. It’s a place where we communicate to
each other.
I absolutely imagine food on a tape where in a moment
of spring here at the restaurant. So. We’re serving the first
piece. Certainly would have a salad made with all these.
Little shoots of. Scallions and little radishes. Scattered with
mustard flowers. At this moment in time. Maybe we could
have. Sent. Some fish with that. And some grilled toast.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

II
53
..... ...--
“it’s really about communicating sharing that moment in time”
Then probably going to have some red wine and cheese. And
I, I want the experience of being connected. Sitting at that
table I love to talk at the table. It’s not simply about the food.
I mean yes I think the food should be delicious but it’s really
about communicating sharing that moment in time.
CAPSULE 02
My vision is really about opening people’s senses educating
their senses so that they can experience this world in the
fullest possible way. The food is a way of doing that. It’s an
everyday experience that engages your sense of smell, touch
and taste and it can be a beautiful experience.
II I
I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III
IV V

“language of music and grammer of music”

II
CAPSULE 02
document 03
Philip Glass // Composer
record 02
III
II I
IV V

..... -....
56
Piece of writing maybe a photograph. How would you want
an alien to best see you and us. The reason I’ve chosen both
is you have the ability to do two things at once.
One was to to deal concretely with the language of music
and you can say grammar of music at the same time.
While it was doing a lot let’s say it was one part of his brain.
He was able to create music that we empathize with. He
takes you by the hand as it were and walks you into states
of being that you didn’t even know existed. Bach goes out in
the space ship. Anybody can hear it and that will put in the
station.
But I would also recommend strongly that we bring music
in from another world tradition whether it’s from Africa.
Whether it’s of a throat singing that you might hear in Siberia
or in the Arctic or a whole group by the way here in
South India.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

II
57
..... --...
I was in India in nineteen sixty six or 67 and I was in a small
village in the Himalayas called calling the border pretending
Tibet and a friend of mine a drug dealer I had been in his
shop numerous times to look at his rugs. Mr. Glass come
with me I want to show you a picture. He he’d gotten a hold
of a film clip of Gandhi.
It was a march he took in the 30s called the it was known
as the saltmarsh English had put a tax on the use of song.
Thousands and thousands of people joined him and they
walked into the sea. And they were garments. Put them into
the water. And harvested it. And I get that. Everything. I
hated it.
CAPSULE 02
I saw the picture this tiny little man, really surrounded by
thousands of and thousands of people leading this march.
And. It was so moving. I think what you’d have to do is get
that piece of footage. It articulates in this very simple. How
society has changed how people appear to be partisan and
significant can bring about huge changes.
“How society has changed how people appear to be partisan and significant can bring about huge changes”
II I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III
IV V

“get it? or is it too tough for you?”

II
CAPSULE 02
document 03
Michael Cunningham // Author
record 03
II I
Voyager Expedition
The Golden Record
III
IV V

-.... -----
60
My name is Michael Cunningham and I wrote the novel the
hours. If it were up to me there are a few things that I would
absolutely send into space. I would send a Chopin nocturne.
I am always envious of music. Every minute I’m trying to
commit a sentence to paper what I’m thinking is if only this
could be music.
My favorite love song is probably. Joni Mitchell’s Blue. Joni
Mitchell. Is that is the voice of our transcendent sorrows to
you. So it’s. Remarkable to me that. I could listen to Joni
Mitchell at 15 before I quite knew what love was. And I
think she said Oh. I can listen to her at 50 as a battle scarred
veteran of the wars and think. Oh yeah.
One of the things I would say that that I that I find that I
listen to over and over again. Bernard Hermann soundtrack
vertigo I think great Hollywood Music is stirring to us
because we want to be swept away. It’s particular to our species.
I’m a believer he wanted to be swept away on a Qur’an
and he wanted to be swept away. How can it get in Hollywood
at its best gives us 30 foot tall people who actually feel
equal to the passions that we harbor in our tiny breath.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

II
61
-.... .----
She’s my daughter. Faye Dunaway in Chinatown and Jack
Nicholson. “She’s my sister. She’s my daughter. She’s my sister.
She’s my daughter. Get it? Or is it too tough for you?”
We have some difficulties ahead. I couldn’t tell you when I
first heard that speech by Martin Luther King. It has always
seemed to me one of the more remarkable human instances
of faith and love and belief in the face of the worst that can
happen. “And I see. The Promised Land. We as a people will
get to the promised land.”
“she’s my sister”
CAPSULE 02
“she’s my daughter”
“she’s my sister”
“she’s my daughter”
“get it? or is it too tough for you?”
II I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III
IV V

“delicious but I mean they are dangerous”

II
CAPSULE 02
document 03
Margaret Cho // Comedian
record 04
II I
Voyager Expedition
The Golden Record
III
IV V

-.... ....-
64
My name is Margaret Cho. I am a stand up comedian. I’m a
fashion designer and author and a film maker. I sing and I’m
a little commentator on television shows where I can and it’s
how well I sing.
Some people who are eternally beautiful and perfect to me
like Elvis Costello and Bjork who’s also somewhat of an
alien and Tristan and Isolde by Wagner which is my favorite
opera and be heard by everyone in the universe.
My favorite sounds. I would sense. When a dog hears a siren.
And then pursed his lips and. Tries to replicate the sight.
And we almost never see the dogs on our planet that oh. I
love that so.
I would put up a photograph of the first couple to be married
in over 50 years together and we’re married in heaven
years he’s off a secret she says he’s got a couple of months
ago. I now pronounce you spouses for life the to see women
fighting for acceptance and equality for their entire lives
and finally getting it for a moment is just so spectacular and
heartbreaking and heart exploding. The same time the mandarin
oranges can in heavy.
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
ahoo ahooooo
“finally getting it for a moment is just so spectacular and heartbreaking and heart exploding”
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

II
65
-.... .....
I love them. Delicious but I mean they are dangerous. Yes
they are an aberration of nature. They don’t haze like that
nature but they’re so tender and delicate and harsh and almost
like kids I would never ever want aliens gushing on the
juicy mandarin oranges.
CAPSULE 02
II I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III
IV V

“we are such stuff as dreams are made of.”

II
CAPSULE 02
document 03
Neil Gaiman // Writer
record 05
III
II I
IV V

-.... ---..
68
My name is Neil Gaiman. I’m a writer of things and the
storyteller. Well what I’d like to send into space what would
I like to preserve.
The Wizard of Oz.A house with a picture painted original
and a positive all this without meaning that. This could happen
to me. I’m writing and I like you I like that. Is it an alien
race. Trying to figure out what we were like by watching The
Wizard of Oz My name is harming us.
I’d love to send alien this because I love the idea of thousands
upon thousands of beryllium aliens social scientists
trying to decode it is the English television series The Office.
Which is the kind of comedy that even has no laugh track.
Take a look. I’m not thinking of leaving I am leaving the
show. Some people never notice that it’s a comedy. I’d love
to see what the aliens make of it.
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

II
69
-.... ----.
“hey we do this too”
OK David listen to me all well what you says to me I like
depressing sometimes. I mean I like that the range the whole
chromatic range but I’d love to send Lou Reed Street TESL
18 minutes a song and dance about horrible urban grunge
and death and prostitution and murder and stuff Waltzing
Matilda out of the 64 years. And this may be aliens that as
well it’s like hey we do this too.
CAPSULE 02
I like the idea of pointing out to them that we come in and
flavor I was thinking perhaps I’d send them the Reaganite
the complete 2000 page because there’s so many stories. It
would give them a very skewed view of the world as this
place is based in and around the globe and some feedback
that may not be about the joy of books is there is nothing
that encapsulates humanity you’d want to send them.
Shakespeare I think if I had to and just one line it would be.
“We are such stuff as dreams are made of.”
II I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III
IV V

.---- ....- 70
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

II
71
.---- .....
there is no end.
CAPSULE 02
II I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III
IV V

- .... . / --. --- .-.. -.. . -. / .-. . -.-. --- .-. -..
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

II
- .... . / --. --- .-.. -.. . -. / .-. . -.-. --- .-. -..
CAPSULE 02
II I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III
IV V

-.-. --- .-.. --- .--. .... --- -.
TITLE : Helvetica Neue LT Std Medium
SUBHEAD : Helvetica Neue LT Std Medium
BODY : Times New Roman MT Std Regular
PAGE NUMBER : Helvetica Neue LT Std Medium
QUOTES : Helvetica Neue LT Std Extended
KEYWORDS : Helvetica Neue LT Std Medium Extended
NAVIGATION TITLE : Helvetica Neue LT Std Bold Extended
ROMAN NUMERAL : Times New Roman MT Std Condensed
PREFIX HEAD : Helvetica Neue LT Std Medium
PREFIX SUBHEAD : Helvetica Neue LT Std Light
TECHNOLOGY : Indesign | Photoshop | Transcriptor
DESIGNER : Taco Shinozuka
Space Capsule
The Golden Record

II
75
.---- .....
CAPSULE 02
II I
Space Capsule
The Golden Record
III
IV V

.---- ....- 76
Space Capsule
The Golden Record