Missions in Space - Voyager
Launch - Voyager 1 (5 Sep 1977), Voyager 2 (20 Aug 1977)
Voyager 1 and 2 were the first in that series of missions to explore all the gas-giant planets in the outer Solar System. The primary aim of both missions was to study the planets Jupiter and Saturn, their satellites, and magnetospheres (magnetic fields set up around a planet), as well as investigating the interplanetary medium - the regions between the planets. Both probes have now travelled beyond the orbit of Pluto and continue their course into the unknown.
Voyager 1 and 2 missions to the outer planets
© NASA
Voyager 1 arrived at Jupiter in March of 1979 and Voyager 2 in July 1979. Both spacecraft were then directed on to Saturn, arriving in November 1980 (Voyager 1) and August 1981 (Voyager 2). Voyager 2 was then diverted toward the cold outer gas-giants, Uranus (Jan 1986) and Neptune (Aug 1989).
Because both craft have their own nuclear power sources, they remain in good working order (nearly 20 years on) and are still in contact with Earth from time to time as they leave the Solar System.
Some of the many Voyager images of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune
© NASA
