40 years ago today, on September 5th, 1977, Voyager 1 was launched from Launch Complex 41 on the final Titan III-E booster to fly. Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2, on a trajectory which put it ahead in its encounters of Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 1 would later begin flying up and away from the Solar System, while Voyager 2 would continue on to Neptune and Uranus.
As I mentioned before in the Voyager 2 Launch Article, there is amazingly little video of the launch of these two vehicles, especially considering All 6 Titan III-E launches were moderate to high profile civilian launches (Titan boosters traditionally were used for military payloads), including the Viking Mars landers as well as the Voyagers.
The day marks, however, not just the launch of the payload, but the fact that both of the Voyager spacecraft have been operating constantly for 40 years. 40 years traveling through space. Not just any random space, but the space between our planets, the heavily radioactive and magnetically intense fields around Jupiter and Saturn, onward to the cold emptiness of the outer solar system and beyond.
Indeed, Voyager 1 is the furthest object from Earth, and is beginning to actively leave the solar system, at least, according to one definition.
I could go on and on, and probably will in future articles – for now, though, I’ll leave with another Voyager launch film, this one from the 35th anniversary of Voyager 1.. More to come, you know what to do – hit the email subscription box to keep informed.