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The Voyager Golden Record was a gift from humanity to the cosmos. And it is also a gift to humanity.

In 1977, NASA launched two spacecraft, Voyager I and II, on a grand tour of the solar system and beyond, into the mysteries of interstellar space. Mounted to each of these spacecraft is a stunning golden phonograph record, an interstellar message to introduce our civilization to extraterrestrials who might encounter the probes, perhaps billions of years from now.

The Voyager Golden Record contains the story of Earth expressed in sounds, images, and science: Earth's greatest music from myriad cultures and eras, from Bach and Beethoven to Blind Willie Johnson and Chuck Berry, Senegalese percussion to Solomon Island panpipes. Dozens of natural sounds of our planet -- birds, a train, a baby's cry -- are collaged into a lovely audio poem called Sounds of Earth. There are spoken greetings in 55 human languages, and one whale language, and more than one hundred images encoded in analog that depict who, and what, we are. (To hear those greetings and Sounds of Earth and see a handful of the images, visit NASA/JPL-Caltech's website.

Here's the email I received from one of the three people behind the project:

Hello,
Today, I’ve launched a very special Kickstarter with two friends, Timothy Daly and Lawrence Azerrad. A year in the making (and many more years on our minds), the Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition is the first vinyl release of the stunning golden phonograph record launched by NASA in 1977 and now traveling through interstellar space. The original Golden Record was a gift from humanity, an introduction to our civilization for any extraterrestrials who might encounter the spacecraft, perhaps billions of years in the future. But it was also a gift to humanity. And now, you’ll be able to experience it the way it was meant to be played.

The Voyager Golden Record contains the story of Earth expressed in sounds, images, and science: Earth's greatest music from myriad cultures and eras, from Bach and Beethoven to Blind Willie Johnson and Chuck Berry, Senegalese percussion to Solomon Island panpipes. Dozens of natural sounds of our planet -- birds, a train, a baby's cry -- are collaged into a lovely sound poem. There are spoken greetings in 55 human languages, and one whale language, and more than one hundred images encoded in analog that depict who, and what, we are.

The Voyager Golden Record was a testament to the power of science and art to ignite humanity’s sense of curiosity, delight, and wonder. And that is the mindset with which we approached this project.

An exquisitely-designed objet d'art, our limited edition Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition vinyl box set will only be available through this Kickstarter. The cloth-covered box includes three translucent gold vinyl LPs, a hardbound book, digital download card for all the audio, and a lithograph of the iconic Voyager Golden Record cover diagram. It is the ultimate album package of the ultimate album package.

We’re honored that my friend and graduate school adviser Timothy Ferris, who produced the original Voyager Golden Record, has agreed to be in the recording studio with us to remaster the audio for vinyl. If we hit our fundraising goal, we're excited to donate 20% of our net proceeds from this project to the Carl Sagan Institute at Cornell University.

The Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition is the first product from a new record label I’ve co-founded, Ozma Records, focused on the intersection of science, art, and music to spark the imagination.

I hope you’ll check out our Kickstarter page, watch the video, and consider pre-ordering the Voyager Golden Record: 40th Anniversary Edition! Of course, if you’re so inspired, we would greatly appreciate it if you could please help spread the word about this long, strange trip we’ve embarked on. And please follow us @ozmarecords on Instagram and Twitter and use the #goldenrecord hashtag.

So far the Kickstarter site has gotten 7165 backers pledging a total of $899,208 dollars. The goal was $198,000 so i guess many people also think vinyl is "out of this world!"

Two of the project initiators are David Pescovitz and Timothy Daly. Daly manages Amoeba's San Francisco store. Pescovitz is best known as the father of nine year old record collector Lux, "King of the Dollar Record Bins", whose interview you can watch here.