Today is the 30th anniversary of the launch of Voyager 2 (Aug. 20, 1977). Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977.
Thirty years after blasting off on a journey that would rewrite our knowledge of the solar system, NASA's two venerable Voyager spacecraft are approaching interstellar space, while humankind continues to reap the benefits of three decades of discovery.
Between the two Voyagers, they have explored Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Both spacecraft continue to send home information daily as they sail their way into interstellar space.
More information on the mission is at www.nasa.gov/voyager .
CUT 1 - FOR PRODUCTION PURPOSES: NATURAL SOUND OF SIGNALS AS VOYAGER 1 APPROACHED THE BOW SHOCK OF JUPITER IN 1979. A SONIC BOOM IS CREATED AS THE SOLAR WIND, STREAMING FROM THE SUN, PASSES THE PLANETS AT SUPERSONIC SPEEDS. YOU CAN HEAR CHIRPS, WHICH ARE ELECTRONS FROM THE BOW SHOCK, THE HUM OF AN ONBOARD INSTRUMENT, AND THE THUD OF A THRUSTER FIRING.
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Length: 44 seconds
OUT: NATURAL SOUND FADES
Transcript: Chirps, hums, thuds and roars.
CUT 2 -FOR PRODUCTION PURPOSES: NATURAL SOUND OF GREETINGS FROM EARTH IN VARIOUS LANGUAGES, CONTAINED ON A GOLDEN RECORD THAT'S ONBOARD BOTH VOYAGER SPACECRAFT.
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Length: 18 seconds
OUT: NATURAL SOUND -- TALKING FADES
Transcript: Starts with "Hello from the children of planet Earth," then there are greetings in several other languages.
CUT 3 -VOYAGER PROJECT SCIENTIST ED STONE OF THE CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY SUMS UP HOW THE VOYAGER SPACECRAFT OPENED OUR EYES TO THE SOLAR SYSTEM.
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Length: 18 seconds
OUT: "PLANET EARTH"
Transcript: "I think the main legacy of Voyager is to, in fact, have opened up our solar system in a way which was not possible before the Space Age. It revealed all of our neighbors in the solar system, and it showed us how much there was to learn and how diverse the bodies are that share the solar system with our own planet Earth."
CUT 4 -VOYAGER PROJECT SCIENTIST ED STONE SAYS THE PUBLIC WAS HUNGRY FOR INFORMATION AND PICTURES FROM VOYAGERS', BUT DURING THE FIRST PART OF THE JOURNEY, THERE WAS NO INTERNET TO DISPLAY THEM.
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Length: 24 seconds
OUT: "BY THESE WORLDS"
Transcript: "I think that I'm proudest of the impact Voyager really had, and it was suprising. I did not realize how much impact it would have. When we flew by Neptune, people were standing in line at night at planetariums in order to be able to see the images coming in from Voyager, because they weren't on the Web in those days, there was no Web, you had to go somewhere in the middle of the night to see it. It became a worldwide event when Voyager was flying by these worlds."
CUT 5 -VOYAGER PROJECT MANAGER ED MASSEY OF NASA'S JET PROPULSION LABORATORY SAYS EVEN THOUGH THE VOYAGERS ARE BILLIONS OF MILES AWAY, THEY "PHONE HOME" TO EARTH EVERY DAY.
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Length: 16 seconds
OUT: "THINGS LIKE THAT"
Transcript: "They're giving us information about the solar wind and the interstellar winds, the magnetic fields, the speed of the solar wind, the composition of the solar wind, energetic particles, cosmic rays and things like that."
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