Voyager 1

Voyager 1 is a <a href="/facts/Space_probe/AeWRBITP">space probe</a> launched by <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> on September 5, 1977, as part of the <a href="/facts/Voyager_program/cPm6qnNx">Voyager program</a> to study the outer <a href="/facts/Solar_System/QIcLSazQ">Solar System</a> and the <a href="/facts/Interstellar_medium/mokU0WEz">interstellar space</a> beyond the Sun's <a href="/facts/Heliosphere/Yc9ToWbA">heliosphere</a>. It was launched 16 days after its twin, <a href="/facts/Voyager_2/9FAEaHUr">Voyager 2</a>. It communicates through the <a href="/facts/NASA_Deep_Space_Network/IcapMQTR">NASA Deep Space Network</a> (DSN) to receive routine commands and to transmit data to Earth. Real-time distance and velocity data are provided by <a href="/facts/NASA/TIMCV0yV">NASA</a> and <a href="/facts/Jet_Propulsion_Laboratory/zPXnxRBf">JPL</a>. At a distance of 166.40 <a href="/facts/Astronomical_unit/gjsbu5xU">AU</a> (24.9 billion km; 15.5 billion mi) from Earth as of May 2025, it is the most distant human-made object from Earth. 
The probe made <a href="/facts/Flyby_(spaceflight)/BtJe76fP">flybys</a> of <a href="/facts/Jupiter/95m7XjMT">Jupiter</a>, <a href="/facts/Saturn/D54LcGJ9">Saturn</a>, and Saturn's largest <a href="/facts/Natural_satellite/AE4KQKbq">moon</a>, <a href="/facts/Titan_(moon)/lg0l9PCH">Titan</a>. NASA had a choice of either conducting a <a href="/facts/Pluto/egq7MBeR">Pluto</a> or Titan flyby. Exploration of Titan took priority because it was known to have a substantial atmosphere. Voyager 1 studied the weather, <a href="/facts/Magnetic_field/Ta8Ev588">magnetic fields</a>, and rings of the two gas giants and was the first probe to provide detailed images of their moons.
As part of the <a href="/facts/Voyager_program/cPm6qnNx">Voyager program</a> and like its sister craft Voyager 2, the spacecraft's extended mission is to locate and study the regions and boundaries of the outer heliosphere and to begin exploring the <a href="/facts/Interstellar_medium/mokU0WEz">interstellar medium</a>. Voyager 1 crossed the <a href="/facts/Heliopause_(astronomy)/Yc9ToWbA">heliopause</a> and entered <a href="/facts/Interstellar_space/R3LRKyFs">interstellar space</a> on August 25, 2012, making it the first spacecraft to do so. Two years later, Voyager 1 began experiencing a third wave of <a href="/facts/Coronal_mass_ejection/YxbMGrkS">coronal mass ejections</a> from the Sun that continued to at least December 15, 2014, further confirming that the probe is in interstellar space.
In 2017, the Voyager team successfully fired the spacecraft's trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) thrusters for the first time since 1980, enabling the mission to be extended by two to three years. Voyager 1's extended mission is expected to continue to return scientific data until at least 2025, with a maximum lifespan of until 2030. Its <a href="/facts/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator/Tsjjvp5h">radioisotope thermoelectric generators</a> (RTGs) may supply enough electric power to return engineering data until 2036.

Voyager 1 open-in-new

Voyager 1