Did we just yeet the Voyager spacecraft into space with the hope that some day an alien civilization will find and decipher the Golden Records? Or did we send them towards specific stars with the hope that they host orbiting, possibly-inhabitable exoplanets (and thus, an alien civilization capable of deciphering them)?
If the answer to the second question is “yes,” which stars, and do they have orbiting, possibly-inhabitable exoplanets? And how long will it take to get there?
The Voyagers are still on a mission called the VIM (Voyager Interstellar Mission) however their trajectories are just a consequence of the end of their primary mission to explore the outer planets of our solar system.
In about 40,000 years, Voyager 1 will drift within 1.6 light-years (9.3 trillion miles) of AC+79 3888, a star in the constellation of Camelopardalis which is heading toward the constellation Ophiuchus. In about 40,000 years, Voyager 2 will pass 1.7 light-years (9.7 trillion miles) from the star Ross 248 and in about 296,000 years, it will pass 4.3 light-years (25 trillion miles) from Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. The Voyagers are destined—perhaps eternally—to wander the Milky Way
I assume you are asking about the so-called “Golden Record”? Those were indeed attached to the spacecraft, but the mission was based on an interplanetary “Grand Tour” trajectory, and to my knowledge do not go near any specific stars (unless you consider a couple of light-years “near”), nor were any exoplanets confirmed in the 1960s–1970s.
The mission was designed around a fortuitous alugnment of the Sun’s planets allowing a visit to the outer planets that would otherwise require multiple expensive individual missions. There wasn’t any leeway to make the Grand Tour and head out to a specific star
The Golden Records were, in fact, messages intended to be received by intelligent beings. And they have, in fact, been received by the intelligent beings intended to receive them. They were never messages to aliens-- They were messages to us.
Putting something like that on a deep-space probe captures the public interest, which results in votes for funding for science and in another generation choosing to become scientists and engineers. NASA decided that those benefits were worth the cost of the few grams of gold required.
The same applies to the Pioneer Plaques, of course. I’ve pointed this out before: the civilization most likely to retrieve any of these missions is ours. We’re going to be the closest civilization to any of the probes for many centuries and we will know roughly where they are even long after they’ve stopped transmitting.
Are these probes legally salvageable? If I had the physical means, can I go and fetch them and keep them in my garage?
“Send more Chuck Berry.”
According to the Outer Space Treaty of 1967, they still belong to NASA:
A State Party to the Treaty on whose registry an object launched into outer space is carried shall retain jurisdiction and control over such object, and over any personnel thereof, while in outer space or on a celestial body. Ownership of objects launched into outer space, including objects landed or constructed on a celestial body, and of their component parts, is not affected by their presence in outer space or on a celestial body or by their return to the Earth. Such objects or component parts found beyond the limits of the State Party to the Treaty on whose registry they are carried shall be returned to that State Party, which shall, upon request, furnish identifying data prior to their return.
(bolding mine)
That said, I suppose in principle you could salvage Voyager and then bring it back to one of the countries that hasn’t signed the Outer Space Treaty. Costa Rica’s supposed to be nice.
There is a book about the making of the Voyager record.