Here Are The Messages NASA Should Not Beam Into Deep Space

Here Are The Messages NASA Should Not Beam Into Deep Space

NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is one of the universe’s only unproblematic faves. For over 39 years, it’s been cruising along in space, flying by Saturn and the Kuiper Belt, doing nothing but beaming back beautiful photos and scientific research. Now, the intrepid spacecraft — skirting serenely in interstellar space — is being bombarded with requests for nudes, the pee tape, and least predictably, questions about people’s dads.

Image: NASA

For context: This September marks the big 4-0 for Voyager 1, which means it remembers the time before the internet, so it couldn’t tweet lewd demands at the pope or look up Lemony Snicket’s real identity. So as Voyager’s anniversary approaches, NASA is celebrating by asking the public to share messages for the wholesome spacecraft, using the hashtag #MessageToVoyager. One lucky winner’s message will be beamed to the space probe, which is nearly 21 billion km from Earth.

This, predictably, was a mistake.

“Join NASA in celebrating the Voyager mission’s 40 years of exploring space. Inspired by the messages of goodwill carried on Voyager’s Golden Record, you’re invited to send via social media a short, uplifting #MessageToVoyager and all that lies beyond it,” NASA wrote. “With input from the Voyager team and a public vote, one of these messages will be selected for NASA to beam into interstellar space on Sept. 5, 2017 — the 40th anniversary of Voyager 1’s launch.” (Emphasis ours because, well, you’ll see).

While some people tweeted pleasant platitudes at the innocent spacecraft, others were a bit more imaginative. Here are just some of the tweets that, for the sake of humanity, we hope NASA will not send into interstellar space:

And lastly:

We’ve said it before, but Voyager is probably better off without us.


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