Voyager Launched: August 30 and September 5, 1977 Mission: Explore Outer Planets of the Solar System Status: Mission Completed Organization: NASA - USA

On August 30, 1977 Voyager II was launched from Cape Canaveral aboard an Titan/Centaur. Its companion spacecraft Voyager I was launched sixteen days later on September 5, 1977. Ultimately their goal was to enable us to better understand the solar system. More specifically they were designed to perform flybys of both Jupiter and Saturn. During theses flybys they would take "pictures" of these two planets and their moons in a broad range of wavelengths. They would also investigate the planet's magnetic fields and several other characteristics of the planets.

The original design for Voyager was to produce one spacecraft that would visit all of the outer planets. As is true for many missions, funding was a major constraint. After extensive study it was determined that this design would be to costly. The resulting mission, two satellites visiting only Jupiter and Saturn, flew as a budget compromise. The second largest constraint was the time frame for the launch. Only once in every 176 years is the geometry of the outer planets such that a spacecraft could visit all of them without major boosters and fuel.

• The Voyager Spacecraft
• Voyager Images
• Voyager Links

Last Modified: June 19, 1998
CSR/TSGC Team Web