Jonathan Scott

The Vinyl Frontier (eBook, ePUB)

The Story of NASA's Interstellar Mixtape

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

'Bursts with gloriously geeky detail.' The Telegraph

Have you ever made someone you love a mix-tape?

Forty years ago, a group of scientists, artists and writers gathered in a house in Ithaca, New York to work on the most important compilation ever conceived. It wasn't from one person to another, it was from Earth to the Cosmos.

In 1977 NASA sent Voyager 1 and 2 on a Grand Tour of the outer planets. During the design phase of the Voyager mission, it was realised that this pair of plucky probes would eventually leave our solar system to drift forever in the unimaginable void of interstellar space. With this gloomy-sounding outcome in mind, NASA decided to do something optimistic. They commissioned astronomer Carl Sagan to create a message to be fixed to the side of Voyager 1 and 2 - a plaque, a calling card, a handshake to any passing alien that might one day chance upon them.

The result was the Voyager Golden Record, a genre-hopping multi-media metal LP. A 90-minute playlist of music from across the globe, a sound essay of life on Earth, spoken greetings in multiple languages and more than 100 photographs and diagrams, all painstakingly chosen by Sagan and his team to create an aliens' guide to Earthlings. The record included music by J.S. Bach and Chuck Berry, a message of peace from US president Jimmy Carter, facts, figures and dimensions, all encased in a golden box.

The Vinyl Frontier tells the story of NASA's interstellar mix-tape, from first phone call to final launch, when Voyager 1 and 2 left our planet bearing their hopeful message from the Summer of '77 to a distant future.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury UK
• Seitenzahl: 304
• Erscheinungstermin: 21. März 2019
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781472956118
• Artikelnr.: 55418211

Autorenporträt

Jonathan Scott is a music writer and self-confessed astronomy geek. Formerly a contributing editor to Record Collector magazine, he's since edited books about Prince, Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead, and has written about everything from Sir Isaac Newton to Nirvana. Jonathan's books include The Vinyl Frontier and Into the Groove.

Inhaltsangabe

Prologue Chapter 1: The Naked Pioneers Chapter 2: Needle Hits Groove
Chapter 3: Musos v Scientists Chapter 4: Uranium Clock Chapter 5: Now
That's What I Call Music Chapter 6: The Hydrogen Key Chapter 7: Berry v
Beatles Chapter 8: Flowing Streams and Firecrackers Chapter 9: Mixing and
Mastering Chapter 10: The Final Cut Chapter 11: A last Supper Chapter 12:
Hello, We Must Be Going Select Bibliography Appendices Acknowledgements1
Index