They are Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, probes sent by NASA on a tour of the outer planets beginning in 1977, now passing 10,000 days of continuous operation. Long since breaching the orbit of Pluto, the twin spacecraft are hurtling on separate trajectories out toward the last reaches of the solar system and into the gap between the stars - going literally where no one has gone before.

"Voyager 1 has entered the final lap on its race to the edge of interstellar space," said Edward Stone, a Voyager project scientist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. Caltech manages NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which built and continues to operate both probes, these many years after launch.

During the first 12 years of their missions, the Voyagers brought humanity its first close-up look at the gas giants of the solar system, with each discovery leaving ground observers breathless.

In 1979, the Voyagers provided the first detailed images of Jupiter's bands, including a time-lapse movie of both the bands and the planet's famous Great Red Spot in motion during the approach.

Source For Full Article : http://www.spacedaily.com/news/voyager1-05d.html

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