The Voyager missions, launched in August and September of 1977 are now our longest lasting space expedition. When constructed, the Voyagers were to study Jupiter and Saturn, Saturn's rings, and various moons of the two planets.

       Voyager 2 was delivered first on August 20th 1977. Voyager 1 was launched on September fifth, both aboard Titan-Centaur expendable class rockets. Their planned flight paths were to take advantage of a very rare opportunity where Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune were all aligned. Voyager 1 was to examine Jupiter, Saturn, IO and Titan. Voyager 2’s path was to be the same but it preserved the option of going on to Uranus and Neptune.

       The Voyagers were built to last 5 years and so far have studied for 28. They have explored all of the large planets of our outer solar system, their rings and electromagnetic fields, and 48 moons. Now, they are both headed out of our Solar System and are expected to return more valuable data for 20-30 years, until their nuclear reactors cannot provide enough electricity to do so.