360NASA launches the two Voyager spacecraft
In August and September 1977, NASA launched Voyager 2 and Voyager 1 to explore the outer planets, using a rare alignment that occurs every 175 years. Together they visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Both have since entered interstellar space and are the most distant human-made objects. Each carries a golden record of sounds from Earth.
In the late 1970s, the outer planets lined up in a way that let a spacecraft swing from one to the next, using each planet's gravity as a slingshot.
NASA launched Voyager 2 on 20 August 1977 and Voyager 1 on 5 September. Voyager 1 flew past Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980. Voyager 2 visited Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989, the only spacecraft to visit the last two.
They discovered volcanoes on Io, details of Saturn's rings and new moons. In 1990, Voyager 1 took the 'Pale Blue Dot' photograph of Earth from about 6 billion km away.
Voyager 1 entered interstellar space in 2012 and Voyager 2 in 2018. Each carries a gold-plated record with greetings in 55 languages, music and sounds of Earth.
- 20 August 1977
- Voyager 2 launches
- 5 September 1977
- Voyager 1 launches
- 1989
- Voyager 2 passes Neptune
- 1990
- The 'Pale Blue Dot' photograph
- 2012
- Voyager 1 enters interstellar space
Sources: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory · Britannica.