The Farthest Page #6

here and there.

I remember the back of an Indian

appliance store in New York

where they had some Indian records,

and there was one copy of a raga

that we ended up putting on the record.

[Jaat Kahan Ho--India--Surshri]

[piano note]

[cello]

[cymbal crash]

FERRIS:
I would love

to have had a Bob Dylan piece.

But really there's only room

for at most one contemporary rock piece.

[electric guitar]

But you know you're up against

Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode,

which Bob Dylan himself would

admit is an awfully good single.

STEVE MARTIN:

It may be just four simple words,

but it is the first positive proof

that other intelligent beings

inhabit the universe.

LARAINE NEWMAN:

What are the four words, Cocuwa?

MARTIN:

Send more Chuck Berry.

[laughter and applause]

FERRIS:

The world is full of fantastic music,

and it goes without saying

there's a lot more great music

that's not on the Voyager record

than there is on it.

Which is a good thing, too,

I mean, if you imagine

living on a planet

that was so pathetic

that it only had 90 minutes

of decent music.

NARRATOR:

In the summer of 1977,

final preparations for two

launches began in Florida.

BELL:

When it was launched,

it was of course all folded up,

it was like origami.

LOCATELL:
Here was this almost

unexpected encapsulation.

I mean, we knew that we were

going to be encapsulated,

but the emotional effect on that

was kind of surprising,

I noticed that

in just looking around me.

I realized that this was the last time

any of us were going to see

the spacecraft with eyes.

And, um, that's a f...

that's a fairly moving experience.

[picture flash sounds]

NARRATOR:

Journalists converged on Cape Canaveral

to cover a once in a lifetime mission.

FERRIS:

When the reporters came to the launch,

they all wanted to know more

about the record.

Most of the press release drawings

show the other side of the spacecraft

so you can't see the record.

There was always a lot of

ambiguity in NASA about this.

There's no question that

the Voyager record is useless

from a scientific standpoint,

and the officials reluctantly

arranged a press conference.

[polka music plays]

FERRIS:

The press conference was a joke really.

It was held in a hotel room

separated by one of those

accordion folding barriers

from what was literally,

as memory serves me,

a Polish wedding reception.

We did the whole press conference

with the oompah sound of

a wedding reception next door.

But I think the public seemed to get it.

[polka music plays]

MAN ON LOUDSPEAKER:

Environmental control, ready.

MAN:
Roger.

KOHLHASE:

We actually launched Voyager 2 first,

and this gave the media,

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