Voyager's Journey to the Edge of the Solar System

Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager spacecraft have become humanity's most distant ambassadors, carrying our presence beyond the boundaries of our solar neighborhood.

The Grand Tour

The Voyager missions took advantage of a rare planetary alignment that occurs only once every 175 years. This allowed the spacecraft to use gravitational assists to visit Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune in a single mission.

Into Interstellar Space

In 2012, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause—the boundary where the Sun's influence ends and interstellar space begins. It was the first human-made object to leave our solar system, now traveling at about 38,000 miles per hour.

The Golden Record

Each Voyager carries a golden record containing sounds and images from Earth: greetings in 55 languages, music from Mozart to Chuck Berry, and the sounds of nature. It's a message in a bottle, cast into the cosmic ocean.

Still Communicating

Remarkably, both Voyagers continue to send data back to Earth, their signals taking over 22 hours to reach us. They remain our most distant scouts, exploring the unknown frontier between the stars.