Voyager Program

Twin NASA spacecraft launched in 1977 to conduct the first Grand Tour of the outer solar system — the third and fourth human-made objects to escape the Sun's gravitational pull (after Pioneer 10 and 11). Now the only spacecraft ever to operate in interstellar space, beyond the heliopause.

Launch and Primary Mission

• Voyager 2 — launched Aug 20, 1977, Cape Canaveral, Titan-Centaur rocket
• Voyager 1 — launched Sept 5, 1977, Cape Canaveral, Titan-Centaur rocket

(Voyager 2 launched first but Voyager 1 was on a faster trajectory and overtook it.)

Primary mission: close-up study of Jupiter and Saturn, their rings, and their larger moons. After discoveries there — active volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io, the intricate structure of Saturn's rings — the mission was extended. Voyager 2 went on to fly by Uranus (1986) and Neptune (1989), and remains the only spacecraft to have visited either planet.

Together the twin Voyagers explored all four giant planets, 48 of their moons, and the unique ring and magnetic field systems of each.

Heliosphere Milestones

The Voyager crossings provided the first direct measurements of the heliopause and confirmed the heliosphere's asymmetric shape — Voyager 1 crossed at 121 AU in the direction of the Sun's motion, Voyager 2 at 119 AU in a different direction.

Current Status (2026)

Both spacecraft escape the solar system in different directions at more than 3 AU per year. They communicate via NASA's Deep Space Network (DSN). Voyager 1 is approaching one light-day from the Sun.

Power comes from radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which decay ~4 watts per year. In April 2026, NASA shut down one instrument on Voyager 1 to conserve power — it now operates with 2 science instruments, nearly 49 years into its mission. Engineers agreed years ago on an instrument shutdown order to extend the mission as long as possible. The Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM) continues with the goal of exploring the outermost edge of the Sun's domain and beyond.

Though beyond the heliopause, both Voyagers remain within the Solar System's gravitational boundary — the outer edge of the Oort Cloud.

The Pale Blue Dot

On February 14, 1990, mission managers commanded Voyager 1 — then speeding beyond Neptune at 3.7 billion miles (6 billion km) from the Sun — to turn its camera back toward home for a final time. It captured a series of 60 images creating the first "family portrait" of the solar system.

In one frame, Earth appeared as approximately one pixel suspended in a scattered ray of sunlight. This image became known as the Pale Blue Dot.

It inspired the title of Carl Sagan's book, in which he wrote:

> *"Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us."*

A reprocessed version — "Pale Blue Dot Revisited" — was released in 2020 for the 30th anniversary, using modern image-processing techniques while preserving the original data's intent.

The Golden Record

Both spacecraft carry a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk — a phonograph record containing sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. It is a greeting to any form of life the spacecraft might encounter. Contents include: music from multiple cultures, natural sounds of Earth, spoken greetings in 55 languages, and 115 images.