NASA Voyager 1 & 2 Owners' Workshop Manual: 1977 onwards (VGR77-1 to VGR77-3, including Pioneer 10 & 11) - Tapa dura

In 1977, NASA sent two probes - Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 - to study the planets in Earth's outer solar system including Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Each probe carried a range of scientific instruments, sending data back to Earth. The programme's primary mission was completed in 1989, with a close fly-by of Neptune by Voyager 2. Humanity has recently reached an important milestone, as Voyager 1 officially crossed the border where our solar system ends, and is heading into the depths of outer space. Voyager 2 will soon follow, and as the craft continue their epic journeys, their discoveries will be transmitted to Earth until their power reserves are exhausted, around 2025. The probes will then become ambassadors from Earth - carrying sites and sounds of human culture into the cosmos. This manual provides a fascinating insight into the Voyager programme, illustrated with a wealth of photographs and technical illustrations, and presents a guide to the golden discs attached to each probe - explaining how these time capsules of human culture were created, and how an alien race might one day decode them, to read their secrets from Earth.

Dr. Christopher Riley is a writer, broadcaster and film-maker, specialising in science and history. He has made over 30 films and TV documentaries about the Apollo Moon mission, and is currently visiting professor of science and media at the University of Lincoln. Richard Corfield is scientist, broadcaster and science writer. He has contributed to a number of leading newspapers and scientific publications, and was the story consultant for the BBC's 2012 documentary on the Voyagers. He has written three books, and is a regular contributor to Radio 4's In Our Time with Melvyn Bragg. Phil Dolling is an award-winning Executive Producer. He has worked for the BBC on may television programmes, including Tomorrow's World, James May's 20th century and Earth: The Power of the Planet, and has written books and articles on the science and technology of the 20th century.