Aug. 30, 2007 NASA's two venerable Voyager spacecraft are
celebrating three decades of flight as they head toward
interstellar space. Their ongoing odysseys mark an unprecedented
and historic accomplishment. Voyager 2 launched on Aug. 20,
1977, and Voyager 1 launched on Sept. 5, 1977. They continue to
return information from distances more than three times farther
away than Pluto. "The Voyager mission is a legend in the annals
of space exploration. It opened our eyes to the scientific
richness of the outer solar system, and it has pioneered the
deepest exploration of the sun's domain ever conducted," said
Alan Stern, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate, Washington. "It's a testament to Voyager's
designers, builders and operators that both spacecraft continue
to deliver important findings more than 25 years after their
primary mission to Jupiter and Saturn concluded." During their
first dozen years of flight, the Voyagers made detailed
explorations of Jupiter, Saturn, and their moons