Launch
Voyager 1 begins its journey from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
NASA • INTERSTELLAR MISSION
VOYAGER 1
THE FARTHEST JOURNEY
Launched in 1977. Past Jupiter and Saturn. Beyond the heliosphere. Humanity’s most distant spacecraft continues its journey through interstellar space.
LAUNCHSEP 5, 1977
JUPITERMAR 5, 1979
SATURNNOV 12, 1980
STATUSEXTENDED MISSION
01 • THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Built for the planets.
Destined for the stars.
Voyager 1 lifted off atop a Titan IIIE–Centaur launch vehicle on September 5, 1977. Its faster trajectory carried it toward two giant worlds—and eventually beyond the protective bubble created by our Sun.
What began as a planetary flyby mission became one of humanity’s longest-running scientific journeys.
LAUNCH • CAPE CANAVERAL
Titan IIIE–Centaur • September 5, 1977
NASA records Voyager 1’s launch at 8:56 a.m. local time from Florida, beginning a mission that would eventually reach interstellar space.
NASA launch record ↗
VOYAGER 1 • OUTBOUNDA visual perspective on a journey beyond the planetary system.
MISSION TIMELINE
From Earth to interstellar space.
Jupiter
Closest approach reveals a dynamic giant planet, rings and previously unknown moons.
Saturn
The final planetary encounter sends Voyager 1 onto its path away from the planets.
Last Look Home
Voyager 1 captures Earth as the Pale Blue Dot before its cameras are switched off.
Interstellar
Voyager 1 crosses the heliopause and becomes the first spacecraft in interstellar space.
The journey continues
Science instruments continue studying the environment beyond the heliosphere.
02 • JUPITER
A giant world revealed.
Voyager 1’s 1979 encounter transformed our view of Jupiter. The mission discovered a thin ring and two new Jovian moons, Thebe and Metis.
CLOSEST APPROACH • MARCH 5, 197903 • SATURN
The last planet.
At Saturn, Voyager 1 found new moons and a new ring. Its close encounter with Titan shaped a trajectory that carried the spacecraft away from the planetary plane.
CLOSEST APPROACH • NOVEMBER 12, 198004 • ONE LAST LOOK HOME
One world.
One point of light.
On February 14, 1990, Voyager 1 looked back toward the inner Solar System. From roughly 6 billion kilometers from the Sun, Earth appeared as a tiny speck within scattered sunlight.
Thirty-four minutes after the Earth images were taken, Voyager 1 powered off its cameras forever—saving energy for the long mission ahead.
Explore the Pale Blue Dot →05 • BEYOND THE HELIOSPHERE
Into interstellar space.
On August 25, 2012, Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause—the boundary where the Sun’s particle-and-magnetic-field bubble gives way to interstellar space.
Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 remain the only spacecraft to have operated outside the heliosphere.
SUN
HELIOSPHERE
VOYAGER 1 INTERSTELLAR SPACE
LISTEN • PLASMA WAVES
The sound of interstellar space.
Voyager 1’s Plasma Wave Instrument detected electron-plasma oscillations in the interstellar medium. The spacecraft transmitted the measurements to Earth; because the frequencies fall within the human audio range, the data can be amplified and played through a speaker.
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Iowa • Public-domain NASA media
06 • THE GOLDEN RECORD
A message from Earth.
Mounted aboard Voyager 1 is a 12-inch gold-plated copper record—a time capsule designed to communicate something of Earth’s life and culture to any spacefarer that might one day encounter it.
115 images55 languages12″ gold-plated copper
A CHILD’S GREETING • ENGLISH“Hello from the children of planet Earth.”
Explore NASA’s Golden Record ↗The English greeting was recorded by six-year-old Nick Sagan, Carl Sagan’s son, for the Voyager Golden Record.
07 • LIVE POSITION
Where is Voyager 1 right now?
Position data is requested from NASA/JPL Horizons, cached by WordPress, and animated between server refreshes.
DATA SOURCENASA / JPL HORIZONS
DISTANCE FROM EARTH
Loading… km
— AU • one-way light time —
— km
relative to Earth
Launched 5 Sep 1977
Connecting to JPL Horizons…
NASA official Voyager tracker ↗APPROACHING ONE LIGHT-DAY FROM EARTH18 NOV 2026
NASA projects Voyager 1 will reach the one-light-day distance milestone on November 18, 2026.
HABIB.AT • VOYAGER 1
THE JOURNEY
CONTINUES.
Nearly half a century after leaving Earth, Voyager 1 continues through interstellar space—carrying instruments, memories, and a message from home.