Voyager 1, launched on September of 1977, is currently the farthest man-made object in space. Here’s where Voyager 1 and its sister Voyager 2 are in context of our Solar System and other launched spacecraft:

Starting in November 2023, Voyager 1 had been transmitting unreliable data and scientists feared that it might mean the end of its mission. However, for the first time in months, engineers were able to bring Voyager 1 back to being operational!

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 are the only operational spacecraft that have gone beyond the heliosphere into the “interstellar space” so their data is incredibly valuable.

You may also remember the Voyager spacecrafts both carry a copy of the “Golden Record”. I’ll probably post another blog post about this fascinating example of visual representation of information.

Do visit NASA’s Voyager 1 website and see all the contributions the spacecraft has made thus far, including this amazing timelapse when it approached Jupiter in 1979: