The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

When Adams made this photograph in 1942, he was working on a commission for the National Park Service. The agency hired Adams to create a photo mural for the Department of the Interior Building in Washington that would highlight the Park Service’s efforts to protect America’s natural wonders. When the United States entered World War II, the commission was abandoned, and the mural was never realized. The image received universal attention 35 years later, however, when it was included in the Voyager Golden Record. The record contains a collection of images and sounds that describe life on Earth, and it was launched aboard the Voyager spacecraft in 1977 in hopes of connecting with alien civilizations.