Voyager 1 Nears Milestone One Light-day From Earth

WHO:

Al Jazeera - NASA’s Voyager 1 is the robotic probe approaching the one-light-day milestone; it was launched shortly before Voyager 2.

Al Jazeera - Voyager 1 project manager Suzanne Dodd called the probe “a national treasure” and told The Associated Press that the probes’ activities are akin to those of weather satellites.

Al Jazeera - Planetary Society’s Bill Nye said, “All of us — everyone on Earth — have been touched by these missions.”

Phys.org - NASA’s Voyager 1 is the first human-made object approaching one light-day from Earth.

WHAT:

Al Jazeera - Voyager 1 is expected to become the first human-made object to travel one light-day from Earth, a distance of at least 16 billion miles.

Al Jazeera - A light-day is the distance light travels in 24 hours.

Al Jazeera - Voyager 1 completed its Saturn flyby in 1980, ending its primary planetary mission.

Al Jazeera - Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 continue to send daily data to Earth, including readings on magnetic-field strength and direction, surrounding pressure, dust, and galactic cosmic rays.

Al Jazeera - The famous “Pale Blue Dot” image of Earth was taken by Voyager 1 in 1990.

Phys.org - Voyager 1 is pushing deeper into interstellar space as it approaches the distance record.

WHERE:

Al Jazeera - Voyager 1 is travelling through interstellar space, described as the vast gap between stars.

Phys.org - Voyager 1 is travelling in interstellar space.

WHEN:

Al Jazeera - Voyager 1 was launched in 1977.

Al Jazeera - Voyager 1 is expected to reach one light-day from Earth on Wednesday.

Al Jazeera - Voyager 2 is expected to reach one light-day from Earth in 2035.

HOW:

Al Jazeera - Voyager 1 is travelling at roughly 36,000 miles per hour; the article gives the equivalent as “58km/h.”

Al Jazeera - The probes are plutonium-powered and are maintained by a skeleton crew of NASA engineers, who send commands roughly once a week or more often if a probe encounters trouble.

Al Jazeera - NASA estimates Voyager 1 would take 18,000 years to travel one light-year and twice that long to near another star.

Al Jazeera - The team briefly lost communication with Voyager 1 in October and had not yet determined why.

(UPDATED November 14, 2026 19:58 UTC)

Voyager 1 is nearing one light-day from Earth, becoming the first human-made object to reach that distance. The probe is traveling through interstellar space, more than 16 billion miles away. Voyager 1 and its twin still send daily data, despite a recent communications glitch.