Voyager: Trailblazers of the Galaxy

The two Voyager spacecraft were launched in 1977 and were designed and built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California. They were being sent on a "grand tour" of the outer planets of our solar system - Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, taking advantage of a rare alignment of these planets. The two probes sent back astounding images and data of all four of these planets, completing their planetary mission in 1989. But it didn't end there - the two pioneering spacecraft sailed on on their trajectory out of our solar system beyond the planets and are now tens of billions of kilometres from Earth. Despite the fact that the probes have now entered interstellar space (the space between the stars), NASA is still receiving invaluable data from both of them. What makes Voyager special is that they both carry "golden disks" which contain sights and sounds of Earth as a greeting for any intelligent life form that might encounter them on their lonely voyage as they sail on through the galaxy, potentially for eternity.

You can find out more about this fascinating mission on NASA's JPL website.

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Artwork by Leila Mead. Check out her website and follow her on Instagram.

Music: As History Unfolds by Christoffer Moe Ditlevsen.

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