Launch of Voyager 1 Spacecraft

Date: September 5, 1977 • Location: Washington D.C., United States

Voyager Program: NASA launches the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

The Voyager program is an American scientific program that employs two interstellar probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977 to take advantage of a favorable planetary alignment to explore the two gas giants Jupiter and Saturn and potentially also the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune—to fly near them while collecting data for transmission back to Earth. After Voyager 1 successfully completed its flyby of Saturn and its moon Titan, it was decided that Voyager 2 would continue on its pre-planned trajectory to fly by Uranus and Neptune.