What's happened
Voyager 1 has reached a distance of more than 16 billion miles from Earth, taking 24 hours for its signals to travel at the speed of light. NASA says the probe will take about 18,000 more years to reach a full light-year, with operations continuing as engineers troubleshoot recent communication hiccups and celebrate the craft’s enduring legacy.
What's behind the headline?
How we got here
Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 has travelled beyond the solar system into interstellar space. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory staffs a skeleton crew to command the probe about once a week, maintaining science data collection while managing power conservation and occasional communication outages.
Our analysis
Go deeper
- What other milestones are Voyager probes approaching?
- How might this mission influence future interstellar exploration?
- What should readers know about the Pale Blue Dot photo and its legacy?
More on these topics
-
National Aeronautics and Space Administration - Agency
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is an independent agency of the U.S. Federal Government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and space research.
-
Voyager 1 - Space probe
Voyager 1 is a space probe that was launched by NASA on September 5, 1977. Part of the Voyager program to study the outer Solar System, Voyager 1 was launched 16 days after its twin, Voyager 2.
-
Guinness World Records - Book
Guinness World Records, known from its inception in 1955 until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records and in previous United States editions as The Guinness Book of World Records, is a reference book published annually, listing world records both of human a
-
Associated Press - News agency company
The Associated Press is an American not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. Its members are U.S. newspapers and broadcasters.
-
Carl Sagan - American astrophysicist, cosmologist and author (1934–1996)
Carl Edward Sagan (; SAY-gən; November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) was an American astronomer, planetary scientist and science communicator. Initially an assistant professor at Harvard, Sagan later moved to Cornell, where he was the David Duncan Professor of Astronomy and Space Sciences and directed the Laboratory for Planetary Studies. He played an active role in the Mariner, Viking and Voyager programs. He published more than 600 scientific papers and articles and several popular science books, starting with The Cosmic Connection. He won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction for The Dragons of Eden. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential science communicators of his generation. He co-wrote and narrated the 1980 documentary series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage, which has been seen by at least 500 million people in 60 countries and won two Emmy Awards and a Peabody Award. Cosmos, the companion volume, was the bestselling science book to date. A lifelong science fiction fan, Sagan entered the genre with Contact, which was adapted as the film of the same name. He was a founding member and first president of the Planetary Society. He proposed the Pale Blue Dot photograph...
-
Bill Nye - American engineer
William Sanford Nye, popularly known as Bill Nye the Science Guy, is an American mechanical engineer, science communicator, and television presenter.
-
Voyager 2 - Space probe
Voyager 2 is a space probe launched by NASA on August 20, 1977, to study the outer planets and interstellar space beyond the Sun's heliosphere.
-
Earth - Planet
Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to harbor life. According to radiometric dating estimation and other evidence, Earth formed over 4.5 billion years ago.