The mission objective of the two Voyager spacecrafts was to explore the giant outer planets of our solar system. Even though Voyager 2 was launched 16 days earlier that its sister spacecraft in August of 1977, it arrived at Jupiter nearly four months after Voyager 1. This was due to the shorter flight path taken by the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Initially, they were only suppose to visit Jupiter and Saturn but in 1981 and 1985 the mission was extended to include visits to Uranus and Neptune. In 1990 Voyager 2 sent back amazing pictures looking back across our entire solar system. Both of the Voyagers are continuing to study interstellar space.
Development
The Voyagers consist of a 12 foot high-gain antenna dish and a central ten-sided body that houses its command and control systems. They were tested here on Earth in a gigantic vacuum chamber that was cooled with liquid nitrogen and lit with a series of arc-lamps and mirrors. These tests were necessary for the scientists to make sure that the Voyager could handle a realistic space situation. This mission gave scientists some of the most important facts about the outer planets and their moons.