NASA says Voyager 1 will cross the one-light-day mark, 16.1 billion miles from the Sun, on Nov. 18, 2026, 49 years after its launch. NASA launched the twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 in 1977 to take advantage of a once-every-175-year planetary alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Six gravity assists between the two probes produced close-up views of the gas and ice giants and several of their moons. Voyager 1 remains the farthest human-made object from Earth.
- 1977: Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 launch.
- 1980s: The probes separate at Saturn.
- August 2012: Voyager 1 crosses the heliopause.
- November 2018: Voyager 2 crosses the heliopause.
- April 17, 2026: Voyager 1's Low-energy Charged Partsicles instrument shuts down.
- November 18, 2026: Voyager 1 reaches one-light-day from the Sun.
The once-every-175-year alignment of the four outer planets created a rare opportunity for a single launch to visit multiple worlds. NASA designed the Voyager mission to slingshot off each planet.
The two probes followed similar paths until the 1980s, when they diverged at Saturn. Voyager 2 continued to the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, while Voyager 1 took a final portrait of the solar system, including the famous image of Earth as a pale blue dot. The gravity assists let the two spacecraft visit multiple outer planets on one launch opportunity.
Voyager 1 crossed the heliopause, the boundary where the Sun‘s solar wind meets the interstellar medium, in August 2012. Voyager 2 followed in November 2018. Crossing the heliopause put both craft in interstellar space, where they continue to send back data.
Voyager 1 remains the farthest human-made object from Earth, traveling outward at 88,000 miles per hour. Its radioisotope thermoelectric generators lose about four watts of power annually, and engineers have been turning off instruments to conserve energy. Hypebeast reported in July 2026 that Voyager 1 was over 15.8 billion miles from Earth, just short of the one-light-day distance.
On April 17, 2026, the Low-energy Charged Partsicles instrument was shut down, leaving only two active science instruments to measure magnetic fields and plasma waves. The shutdown was deemed necessary to stabilize power and avoid an autonomous failsafe that could end the mission. Hypebeast reports that NASA is preparing a maneuver to swap multiple heaters and powered components at once, saving about 10 watts and keeping thruster lines warm enough to prevent freezing.
The plan is to test the maneuver on Voyager 2 first, then apply it to Voyager 1 later in 2026, an attempt to extend operations into the 2030s. Hypebeast reports that Voyager 1’s radio signals take roughly 23 hours to reach the control room, and at one full light-day on Nov. 18, 2026, a status check needs a 48-hour round trip. NASA says the Deep Space Network, a NASA array of large antennas that communicates with spacecraft far from Earth, tracks both spacecraft. As of late October 2026, Canberra had Voyager 1 at 25.80 billion km, or just over 16 billion miles.
NASA says a linked tracker lets readers track each Voyager spacecraft. The agency also offers educational activities, including a Gravity Assist activity and a Measuring a Kid Minute activity guide, to help students understand the mission.
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