Voyager 1 gold disc: almost rejected, its creator explains

[silylene old]

Todays NYT has a very nice article by Timothy Ferris, who is one of the creators of the gold disc which flew into interstellar space on Voyager 1. It's quite an interesting and personal story full of details I was unaware of. Here is one small excerpt:<br /><br /><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>Over the past three decades, the gold record has become an article of international curiosity. Spirited discussions continue about what we might do differently if we were making it today. (Having produced the record, I answer that I wouldn’t change much.) At the time, though, the record almost didn’t make it. <br /><br />NASA officials, worried that Congress would ridicule the record as a waste of public money, had tried to play it down. Press-release photos of the spacecraft almost invariably showed the side opposite to where the record was bolted on, literally hiding it from view. <br /><br />And after the record was completed, NASA rejected it on technical grounds. Late one night in a New York sound studio, when we’d finished cutting the master, I inscribed the words, “To the makers of music — all worlds, all times,†in the “takeout grooves†next to the label. (The Voyager record is a metal version of the 33 1/3 vinyl records of the day, recorded at half-speed to double its data content. Etching an inscription between the takeout grooves was a trope I’d picked up from John Lennon.) A NASA quality-control officer checked the record against specifications and found that while the record’s size, weight, composition and magnetic properties were all in order, its blueprints made no provision for an inscription. <br /><br /><font color="yellow">So the record was rejected as a nonstandard part, and the space agency prepared to replace it with a blank disc.</font>Sagan had to persuade the NASA administrator to sign a waiver before the record co</p></blockquote> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><em><font color="#0000ff">- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -</font></em> </div><div class="Discussion_UserSignature" align="center"><font color="#0000ff"><em>I really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function.</em></font> </div> </div>

 

[f___h]

Very cool! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2">There are two rules in life. </font></p><p><font size="2">#1 is 'don't tell anyone <em>everything</em> you know'. </font></p><p><font size="2">Are we clear on this?</font></p> </div>

 

[jaxtraw]

The existence of people like the said quality control officer will ultimately lead to the downfall of civilisation.

 

[lampblack]

<font color="yellow">The existence of people like the said quality control officer will ultimately lead to the downfall of civilisation.</font><br /><br />Ahhh... humorless cretins like that one will always be amongst us. Just gotta keep an eye out for them -- and kick 'em in the ass when necessary. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font color="#0000ff"><strong>Just tell the truth and let the chips fall...</strong></font> </div>

 

[adrenalynn]

What a great story! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p>.</p><p><font size="3">bipartisan</font>  (<span style="color:blue" class="pointer"><span class="pron"><font face="Lucida Sans Unicode" size="2">bī-pär'tĭ-zən, -sən</font></span></span>) [Adj.]  Maintaining the ability to blame republications when your stimulus plan proves to be a devastating failure.</p><p><strong><font color="#ff0000"><font color="#ff0000">IMPE</font><font color="#c0c0c0">ACH</font> <font color="#0000ff"><font color="#c0c0c0">O</font>BAMA</font>!</font></strong></p> </div>

 

[Smersh]

In the UK we have a name for people like that quality control officer - "jobsworth."<br /><br />That really is taking jobsworthing to extremes though ... <img src="/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <h1 style="margin:0pt;font-size:12px">----------------------------------------------------- </h1><p><font color="#800000"><em>Lady Nancy Astor: "Winston, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."<br />Churchill: "Nancy, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."</em></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Website / forums </strong></font></p> </div>

 

[henryhallam]

The article mentions that in ~380k years Voyager 1 will approach Sirius - does anyone know how closely?

 

[billslugg]

QC officers wake up in cold sweats thinking of a blowup on the pad, and then a visit by some anti-Bush/hate NASA creep from the New York Times shoving a tape recorder in his face asking: "Did you knowingly allow a substandard component to be passed?" It would not matter why the thing blew up, or that the component had nothing to do with it. He would be reamed, steamed, and dry cleaned. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p> </p> </div>

 

[vogon13]

IIRC, it's a couple of light years.<br /><br />Additionally, Voyager doesn't really go to Sirius, Sirius is moving independently around our galxay and it pretty much encounters Voyager.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#ff0000"><strong>TPTB went to Dallas and all I got was Plucked !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#339966"><strong>So many people, so few recipes !!</strong></font></p><p><font color="#0000ff"><strong>Let's clean up this stinkhole !!</strong></font> </p> </div>

 

[3488]

Hi Vogon,<br /><br />I found this NASA / JPL Voyager Intersteller Mission,<br />they state that Voyager 2 will pass about 4.3 light years from Sirius. From<br />this distance Sirius will appear of about magnitude -3.1, so pretty bright.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[christine16]

yes cool <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" />