Listen&Learn: The Golden Records

Learn about the records floating through space

Pre-listening vocabulary

• probe: a device sent into space for the purpose of studying planets
• opportunity: a chance to do something
• greeting: a friendly way to address someone
• record: a disc that stores and plays music through grooves on its surface
• anatomy: the parts of a body
• engrave: to carve words or pictures into metal
• civilization: a group of people living and working together

Listening activity

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 1:34 — 1.4MB)

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | More

Gapfill exercise

In 1977, NASA launched two space probes, called Voyager 1 and 2, to explore and the solar system. They knew that the probes would eventually drift too far away to bring back to Earth, so they decided to use the opportunity to create a greeting for civilizations. Each Voyager craft contains a gold-plated copper record. A team of researchers chose a series of sounds and images to represent Earth, including of human anatomy, photographs of nearby planets, and songs and languages from around the world. On the covers of the records, the researchers engraved pictures that explain how to retrieve the . Although there is a very small chance that an alien civilization will ever discover the Golden Records, they are built to last for a years, and they will likely outlive the human race.

Comprehension questions

See answers below

1. The records are made of
   a. copper-plated gold
   b. gold-plated aluminum
   c. gold-plated copper
   
2. The records contain depictions of human
   a. religion
   b. language
   c. politics
   
3. The covers of the records have
   a. engravings of human anatomy
   b. engravings of important monuments on Earth
   c. engravings that explain how to retrieve the sounds and pictures

Discussion/essay questions

1. The Golden Record team chose not to include images of war, poverty, and other negative parts of humanity. Do you think this was a good decision? Why or why not?
2. Which sounds and images would you choose to represent Earth? Why?

Transcript

In 1977, NASA launched two space probes, called Voyager 1 and 2, to explore and photograph the solar system. They knew that the probes would eventually drift too far away to bring back to Earth, so they decided to use the opportunity to create a greeting for alien civilizations. Each Voyager craft contains a gold-plated copper record. A team of researchers chose a series of sounds and images to represent Earth, including drawings of human anatomy, photographs of nearby planets, and songs and languages from around the world. On the covers of the records, the researchers engraved pictures that explain how to retrieve the information. Although there is a very small chance that an alien civilization will ever discover the Golden Records, they are built to last for a billion years, and they will likely outlive the human race.

Answers to comprehension questions

1c 2b 3c