Today I learned that Voyager 2 launched before Voyager 1! The names refer to their planned missions, not launch order.
- Voyager 2 took a slower trajectory designed to continue past Jupiter and Saturn to Uranus and Neptune, so it had to launch first to hit the required planetary alignment.
- Voyager 1 launched later on a faster route to Jupiter and Saturn.
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Voyager 2 launched exactly 49 years ago today - 16 days before Voyager 1, which took a faster trajectory and overtook it.
Voyager 2 remains the only spacecraft to have visited Uranus and Neptune and is still communicating with Earth from interstellar space, over 13 billion miles away.
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