Image: NASA / JPL-Caltech
Voyager 1
Mission Profile
| Launch date | 1977-09-05 |
|---|---|
| Launch vehicle | Titan IIIE / Centaur |
| Spacecraft | Voyager 1 |
| Target | Interstellar |
| Type | Robotic |
| Cost | $865M (Voyager 1 and 2 combined, 1977 dollars) |
| Mass | 722 kg |
| Duration | 48+ years and counting (primary mission ended 1980; extended ops since) |
| Partners | NASA JPL, Caltech |
| Instruments | Plasma Wave Subsystem (PWS), Cosmic Ray Subsystem (CRS), Magnetometer (MAG), Low-Energy Charged Particle (LECP), Imaging Science (ISS, deactivated), UVS (deactivated) |
Prime Contractors
Companies that built, launched, or operate this mission. Tickers link to their investor profile.
- NASA JPL
- Lockheed Martin (heritage Martin Marietta)
- General Dynamics (heritage)
Overview
Voyager 1 is the most distant human-made object in existence and the first spacecraft to enter interstellar space. Launched on 5 September 1977 — 16 days after its twin Voyager 2 — Voyager 1 took advantage of a once-in-176-years planetary alignment to conduct the first close flybys of Jupiter (March 1979) and Saturn (November 1980), discovering volcanic activity on Io, the chaotic terrain of Saturn's moon Mimas, and the structure of Saturn's rings. After Saturn, Voyager 1 was directed up out of the ecliptic plane and onto a trajectory that took it on its long-haul journey toward the boundary of the Sun's heliosphere. On 25 August 2012, at a distance of 121.6 AU from the Sun, Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to cross the heliopause — the boundary where the solar wind gives way to the interstellar medium. As of April 2026 Voyager 1 is approximately 25 billion km (167 AU) from Earth, with a one-way light-time of nearly 23 hours. Despite operating on radioisotope generators that have lost more than 60% of their original power, the spacecraft continues to return plasma wave data, and engineers in 2024 successfully recovered from a corrupted memory chip that had garbled telemetry for months. The 1977 Golden Record bolted to its side carries greetings, music, and images of Earth — a message in a bottle for any civilization that may someday encounter it.
Key Milestones
1977-09-05
Launch on Titan IIIE-Centaur from Cape Canaveral
1979-03-05
Jupiter closest approach (348,000 km)
1980-11-12
Saturn closest approach (124,000 km)
1990-02-14
Captures the 'Pale Blue Dot' image of Earth from 6 billion km
2012-08-25
Crosses heliopause into interstellar space
2024-06-13
NASA recovers Voyager 1 memory after 7-month telemetry loss