Voyager 1 to cross one-light-day mark on 2026-11-18

Voyager 1 will cross the one-light-day mark on 2026-11-18. The spacecraft launched in 1977.

Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 launched in 1977 during a planetary alignment that occurs once every 175 years. The mission used 6 gravity assists.

The Grand Tour obtained near views of the gas and ice giants, as well as several moons. The spacecraft separated at Saturn, and Voyager 2 went on toward Uranus and Neptune.

Voyager 1 made a portrait of the solar system that left out Mercury and Mars. The final image was the pale blue dot.

The Golden Record is a 12-inch phonograph record. It includes 55 languages, 27 tracks, 116 images and other sounds from Earth.

It also includes 14 pulsars and instructions on how to play it. Several metals shield the recorded information against space radiation, and the record has copper and gold plating.

The cover used aluminum and was electroplated with uranium-238. Uranium-238 is listed with 4,468,000,000 years.

A light-minute is a measure of distance. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 crossed the heliopause, the boundary where solar wind from the Sun encounters the interstellar medium.

Earth keeps contact with both spacecraft and tracks them using the Deep Space Network, which is related to NASA. A Canberra antenna is listed with 25,800,000,000 km and 16,000,000,000 miles, while Voyager 1 is listed with 16,100,000,000 miles and 49 years.

The milestone gives a concrete measure of how far spacecraft can travel after launch. For readers tracking the lunar industry, it shows the scale of distance measurement and tracking, with the Deep Space Network keeping contact with both spacecraft.

Voyager 1 is listed to cross the one-light-day mark on 2026-11-18.