NASA to send message of goodwill beyond Earth

The Voyager mission is the longest continuously operating space mission. It was launched in 1977. Voyager 1 is the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space. It is the most distant human made object in space. Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to fly by planets like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. NASA will soon be celebrating the 40th anniversary of Voyager 1 spacecraft. It has come up with a novel way to do so – by sending a goodwill message – to whoever lies beyond earth. In September, NASA is going to transmit a short message from its social media followers to the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Users are invited to send messages to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ or Tumblr with the hashtag #MessageToVoyager. They can send messages till August 15.  Messages must be 60 characters or less and contain only letters, numbers, spaces and punctuation. Emojis are not permitted. Once the finalists are picked by NASA, the public will have the chance to vote on their favorite message. The message will be beamed to the space agency on Sept. 5 and will reach the spacecraft on Sept.6. The contest is inspired by the Golden Record, which is a time capsule present in the Voyager spacecraft that carries sounds and images representing life and culture on Earth.