Kat Troche

Oct 30, 2026

In 1977, NASA launched twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and 2, taking advantage of a once-every-175-year planetary alignment of the four largest planets in our solar system: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Using six gravity assists between them, this Grand Tour gave us up-close views of the gas and ice giants, including several moons. By the 1980s, the two probes went their separate ways at Saturn. As Voyager 2 continued toward Uranus and Neptune, Voyager 1 grabbed one more portrait of the solar system (excluding Mercury and Mars), including a final image of the pale blue dot we call home.

“Hello from the children of planet Earth.”

Every good road trip needs some music to match. In this case, each craft carries the Golden Record , a 12-inch phonograph record with spoken greetings in 55 languages, 27 musical tracks, 116 images, and other sounds from Earth.…