On Sept. 5, 2017 — the 40th anniversary of Voyager 1’s launch — NASA revealed the winning #MessageToVoyager and beamed it into space. "Message to Voyager" is a social media campaign inspired by the messages of goodwill carried on the Golden Record aboard each Voyager spacecraft. This clip reveals the winning message: "We offer friendship across the stars. You are not alone." It was submitted by Oliver Jenkins and announced on NASA Television.

As part of the celebration of Voyager’s 40 years of continuing exploration, NASA invited the public to submit short, uplifting messages to the Voyager 1 spacecraft and all that lies beyond it. These messages were a maximum of 60 characters and were tagged #MessageToVoyager. NASA tracked more than 30,000 submissions. The Voyager team together with JPL and NASA headquarters selected their 10 favorites, which were then put to a public vote. The winning message was sent into interstellar space by a command that originated from the Deep Space Network (DSN) mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory with help from the original Captain Kirk, actor William Shatner; Tracy Drain, Juno mission deputy chief engineer; Jeff Berner, DSN chief engineer; and Annabel Kennedy, DSN command engineer.

The winning message was chosen by public vote from among these finalists:

From the stars we came, and to the stars we return.
All of us are behind you, and ahead of you is everything.
We offer friendship across the stars. You are not alone.
You carry our hopes and dreams to the stars
Solar winds at your back, the stars shall light your way.
Eres el pasado viajando al futuro. (You are the past traveling to the future)
We began as wanderers, and we are wanderers still.
When we work together, we can do great things.
Keep exploring, we'll catch up to you one day.
Now, Voyager, sail thou forth, to seek and find.


How were #MessageToVoyager posts submitted?

  • Messages could have a maximum of 60 characters (A-Z, 0-9, spaces and punctuation)
  • Submissions were tagged #MessageToVoyager
  • Messages were posted to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Google+ or Tumblr
  • Privacy settings on submission posts must have been public to be considered
  • Submissions were received by 11:59 p.m. PDT on Aug. 15, 2017
  • JPL, NASA and the Voyager team selected their top picks
  • The public will choose the winning message by poll on this page from these top picks
  • NASA will beam the winning message through space toward Voyager 1

What’s noteworthy about the Voyager mission?

  • Voyager is the longest continuously operating space mission ever
  • Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object ever
  • Voyager 1 is the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space
  • Voyager 2 is the only spacecraft to fly by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
  • Both are the first spacecraft able to detect their own problems and take corrective action
  • More about how the Voyagers blazed trails

#MessageToVoyager Social Media Campaign Timeline

August 1 Kickoff; tag submissions #MessageToVoyager
August 15 Submissions due
August 23 Public voting opens
August 29 Public voting closes
September 5 #MessageToVoyager transmission
September 6 #MessageToVoyager arrives in interstellar space in the vicinity of Voyager 1