June 11, 2011 at 10:52 pm
This must be truly the greatest value to mankind space mission ever.
Launched in 1977 primarily to survey Saturn and Jupiter, after also performing close fly bys of all the outer planets, Voyager 1 & 2 have now reached the edge of our solar system (10906318923.7 miles away) and are still sending back valuable data to the earth. They are due to carry on working until 2025 when the on board power will be insufficient to keep the scientific instruments functioning.
The two spacecraft don’t get the publicity of the great manned flights of say Apollo or the Space Shuttle, but carry on in the great explorative tradition of the Pioneer and Mariner programmes.
Who can forget those incredible images of Saturn.