NASA Honored the Voyager Probes With Groovy Posters

Back in 1977, NASA launched two of the most important craft in its history, the Voyager probes 1 and 2. Now on the 40 anniversary of their launch, NASA has released a handful of promotional posters to remind people that they are still out there, exploring.

The probes were originally tasked with studying some of the bodies in our own solar system, including Saturn and the moons of Jupiter. Voyager 1 is now floating through interstellar space beyond our solar system, farther than any man-made object in history, while Voyager 2 is currently making its way through the “heliosheath,” the outermost layer of the heliosphere. They are responsible for such historic cosmic feats as the famous “Pale Blue Dot” image, and they both carry a copy of the art- and information–packed Voyager Golden Record.

As per Science Daily, NASA released a series of posters to mark the 40th anniversary of the launch of the probes. While one of the posters has a fairly simplistic modern design, the other two are groovy retro-inspired images, one looking like it could be a flier for a disco concert, and the other looking as though it might be the cover of a pulpy sci-fi paperback. These come on the heels of another series of retro posters released to celebrate the Cassini mission.

In Star Trek: The Motion Picture, a mysterious being known only as V’Ger nearly destroys the Earth until Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew realize that (SPOILER ALERT) it is in fact an old Voyager probe that has evolved into a living being. In the movie, they still remember the Voyager probes some 300 years in the future. If NASA keeps putting out cool posters to celebrate their incredible achievements, hopefully that kind of centuries-long legacy will come to pass.