What is Voyager 1 ?

Having operated for 41 years, 2 months and 27 days as of December 2, 2018, the spacecraft still communicates with the Deep Space Network to receive routine commands and return data.

A gold-plated copper phonograph record—accompanied by a cartridge, needle, and symbolic instructions for playing it—contained images and sounds chosen to depict the diversity of life and culture on Earth.

In the NASA Eyes on the Solar System app, you can see the real spacecraft trajectories of the Voyagers, which are updated every five minutes.

Distance and velocities are updated in real-time. For a full 3D, immersive experience click on View Voyagers link below to launch the NASA Eyes on the Solar System app.

Voyager 1 is the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space. It originally was launched (along with Voyager 2) in 1977 to explore the outer planets in our solar system.

The discovery wasn't made official until 2013, however, when scientists had time to review the data sent back from Voyager 1.

Voyager 1 was actually the second of the twin spacecraft to launch, but it was the first to race by Jupiter and Saturn.

Voyager 2 launched on Aug. 20, 1977, and Voyager 1 launched about two weeks later, on Sept. 5. Since then, the spacecraft have been traveling along different flight paths and at different speeds.

The Voyager missions were intended to take advantage of a special alignment of the outer planets that happens every 176 years.

However, Voyager 1's falling power supply means it will stop transmitting data by about 2025, meaning no data will flow back from that distant location.

NASA originally planned to send two spacecraft past Jupiter, Saturn and Pluto and two other probes past Jupiter, Uranus and Neptune. Budgetary reasons forced the agency to scale back its plans, but NASA still got a lot out of the two Voyagers it launched.

Voyager 2 flew past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, while Voyager 1 focused on Jupiter and Saturn.

Recognizing that the Voyagers would fly out of the solar system, NASA authorized the production of two records to be placed on board the spacecraft.

Voyager 1 almost didn't get off the ground at its launch, as its rocket came within 3.5 seconds of running out of fuel on Sept. 5, 1977.

But it made it safely, and raced past its twin after launch, leaving the asteroid belt before Voyager 2 did. Voyager 1's first pictures of Jupiter beamed back to Earth in April 1978, when it was 165 million miles away.

To NASA's surprise, in March 1979 Voyager 1 spotted a thin ring circling the planet. It found two new moons as well — Thebe and Metis.

Additionally, Voyager 1 sent back detailed pictures of the Galilean moons (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto) as well as Amalthea.

. Voyager 1 came out with some intriguing findings, as well. Io's volcanoes and mottled yellow-brown-orange surface were intriguing finds, proving that, like planets, moons could have active interiors.

Additionally, Voyager 1 sent back ephemeral pictures of Europa showing a smooth surface broken up by lines, hinting at ice and maybe even an ocean underneath.

Voyager 1's closest approach to Jupiter was on March 5, 1979, when it came within 174,000 miles of the turbulent cloud tops. Then it was time to aim for Saturn.

Voyager's higher-resolution camera spotted two new moons, Prometheus and Pandora, whose orbits keep the debris in the F ring in a defined orbit.

With Voyager 1's primary mission over, the focus shifted on tracking the small probe as it sped out of the solar system.

Voyager 1 is the first spacecraft to reach interstellar space. It originally was launched (along with Voyager 2) in 1977 to explore the outer planets in our solar system. However, it has remained operational long past expectations and continues to send information about its journeys back to Earth.

The spacecraft officially entered interstellar space in August 2012, almost 35 years after its voyage began. The discovery wasn't made official until 2013, however, when scientists had time to review the data sent back from Voyager 1.

Voyager 1 was actually the second of the twin spacecraft to launch, but it was the first to race by Jupiter and Saturn.