1 | Jimmy Carter, Voyager Spacecraft Statement by the President. |
2 | July 29, 1977 |
3 | Note : The statement has been placed in a National Aeronautics and Space Administration Voyager spacecraft which is scheduled to be launched August 20. |
4 | The statement is recorded in electronic impulses which can be converted into printed words. |
5 | This Voyager spacecraft was constructed by the United States of America. |
6 | We are a community of 240 million human beings among the more than 4 billion who inhabit the planet Earth. |
7 | We human beings are still divided into nation states, but these states are rapidly becoming a single global civilization. |
8 | We cast this message into the cosmos. |
9 | It is likely to survive a billion years into our future, when our civilization is profoundly altered and the surface of the Earth may be vastly changed. |
10 | Of the 200 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy, some -- perhaps many -- may have inhabited planets and spacefaring civilizations. |
11 | If one such civilization intercepts Voyager and can understand these recorded contents, here is our message: |
12 | This is a present from a small distant world, a token of our sounds, our science, our images, our music, our thoughts, and our feelings. |
13 | We are attempting to survive our time so we may live into yours. |
14 | We hope someday, having solved the problems we face, to join a community of galactic civilizations. |
15 | This record represents our hope and our determination, and our good will in a vast and awesome universe. |