MISSION HISTORY
Milestones
Every major event of both spacecraft on one shared timeline, tagged by probe. Newest at the top, launch day at the bottom.
A one-shot, no-margin-for-error power-system swap frees enough electricity to keep Voyager 2's three remaining instruments running at least another year.
Following an unexpected power drop during a roll maneuver, NASA shuts off the low-energy charged particles instrument after nearly 49 years of continuous operation.
Voyager 2's low-energy particle instrument is switched off the same week as Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem, part of a coordinated plan to stretch the mission's dwindling plutonium power.
Engineers successfully test-fire Voyager 1's long-idle primary roll thrusters, restoring a working backup ahead of a months-long Deep Space Network antenna outage.
NASA shuts off Voyager 1's cosmic ray subsystem to conserve fading power, part of the same coordinated shutdown plan as Voyager 2's low-energy particle instrument.
NASA deactivates Voyager 2's Plasma Science Experiment to conserve fading power, leaving three active instruments.
Silicon-dioxide buildup clogs Voyager 1's trajectory-correction fuel line to half a human hair's width, forcing a switch to its attitude-propulsion thrusters to stay pointed at Earth.
A software patch works around corrupted memory hardware, and Voyager 1 resumes sending readable engineering data.
The flight data system begins transmitting garbled telemetry after a memory chip fails; engineers work the problem for five months.
The Deep Space Network's most powerful transmitter sends an "interstellar shout" that reaches the probe and re-points its antenna at Earth.
A routine command accidentally tilts the antenna two degrees off Earth, cutting off contact.
Voyager 2 exits the heliosphere and becomes the second human-made object in interstellar space.
Voyager 1 becomes the first spacecraft to leave the heliosphere and enter interstellar space.
Cameras turn back for a final family portrait of the Solar System, then power down for good to save energy.
Closest approach to Neptune — the final planetary encounter of the Grand Tour, and the only spacecraft ever to visit.
Closest approach to Uranus, discovering ten new moons and a sharper picture of its tilted magnetic field.
Closest approach to Saturn, imaging its rings and moons in detail.
Closest approach to Saturn, returning the first close images of its ring structure.
Closest approach to Jupiter, capturing the first clear images of its faint ring system.
Closest approach to Jupiter, discovering active volcanoes on the moon Io.
Lifts off from Cape Canaveral aboard a Titan-Centaur rocket, carrying the Golden Record.
Lifts off from Cape Canaveral — launched first, despite the "2" in its name.