from ScienceFocus.com :   40 years ago, on This Day In History, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft lifted off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 5 September 1977, a couple weeks after the launch of its sister craft, Voyager 2. Equipped with a toolbox of television cameras, infrared and ultraviolet sensors, and various other instruments, the spacecraft are still travelling through space today. They’re powered by ‘radioisotope thermoelectric generators’, which convert the heat produced by the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity.

Voyager 1 lifts off (credit: NASA)
Voyager 1 lifts off © NASA

Also onboard each spacecraft is a ‘Golden Record’ that contains sounds, music and images from Earth, intended for any aliens or future humans who chance upon the craft. Sounds engraved into the copper vinyl include nature recordings of birdsong, thunder and wind, greetings in more than 50 languages, and music by artists including Bach, Chuck Berry, Beethoven, Blind Willie Johnson and Mozart.

Voyager 1's Golden Record, etched with instructions on how to play it (credit: NASA/JPL)
Voyager 1’s Golden Record, etched with instructions on how to play it © NASA/JPL