Carl Sagan helped design the golden record for NASA's Voyager mission. The Voyager Golden Record was created as a time capsule for intelligent life that might someday encounter either Voyager 1 or Voyager 2.
The project grew from the earlier Pioneer plaque, but the Voyager message was far more ambitious. Sagan chaired the committee that selected 116 images, natural sounds, spoken greetings, music, and other material intended to portray life and culture on Earth. His collaborators included Linda Salzman, Frank Drake, Ann Druyan, Jon Lomberg, and Timothy Ferris.
Each Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977, carries an identical gold-plated copper phonograph record. Its cover includes symbolic instructions explaining how to play the record and interpret its images using universal physical references. The contents range from greetings in 55 languages to music by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chuck Berry, and performers from many cultures.
A common mix-up is confusing Voyager's record with the Pioneer plaque. Pioneer 10 and 11 carried plaques; Voyager 1 and 2 carried the records. Nick Sagan, Carl's six-year-old son, contributed a spoken greeting to the collection.