Dark is the night.....

[RoofGardener]

I read the bare bones of this story a few months ago, and it made me choke up. I've since embellished it a little... but it is all still true.

I hope this is the most appropriate place to put it. The story may seem odd for a "space exploration" area, but bear with it.

If asked, who would you say are the most famous, important people on our planet ? I would imagine many would cite presidents and prime-ministers, present and past. Or perhaps film stars, or pop stars. Perhaps famous athletes or games players ? Maybe famous inventors or scientists, or the ultra-rich; Bill Gates, George Soros, and so forth ?

It's unlikely you would cite Blind Willie Johnson. He never amounted to much. Nobody is entirely sure where he was born, or even where he was buried. He was blinded as a child in a family argument, and spent his life as a blues musician. Mostly he performed on the streets. He did do SOME studio recordings, but fame and fortune eluded him.

Although nobody knows for sure where he was buried, it IS known that his death was caused by complications of malerial fever, contracted because his house burnt down, and he subsequently had to sleep in the (leaking) remains, not having the means to repair the building.

But one of his songs... "Dark is the Night...", was selected for inclusion on Voyager 1's "golden record".

Voyager 1 finally cleared the Heliosphere last year. It is no longer in the Solar System. It is in Interstellar Space; the first human artifact ever to accomplish such a thing.

It is being shut down as we speak... gradually.... stage by stage. By around 2025, the last of its instruments will have died, and it will be an inert lump of metal and plastics. However... it will have one last mission left to accomplished.. and that is..... "to be discovered". That is the purpose of the golden record.

If this every happens, then the first we will know of it is when The Spaceship drops out of warp, settles into one of our Lagrangian Points, and opens contact with the Earth below.

The occupiers of that alien craft will not have heard of Presidents or rock stars, or athletes, or the super-rich.

But they will have heard of Blind Willie Johnson.

So who's laughing now ?

[Scandal]

Awesome

[DONTEATUS]

Can I open my eyes now?

[TonopahRick]

Well I don't think they will find it in my life time but who knows? hopefully they will want to come down, listen to a little "blues" and have a beer in memory of Blind Willie Johnson.