Voyager 1 Reaches 1 Light-Day Milestone From Earth

NASA has announced that Voyager 1 will reach 1 light-day from Earth on November 18, 2026—about 16.1 billion miles (25.9 billion km, 173 AU). Launched in 1977, it left the solar system in 2012 and remains the most distant human-made object in contact with Earth, though many instruments are powered down to conserve energy. Voyager 2 is about 2 billion miles closer to Earth than Voyager 1 and travels in a different direction; both carry golden records as a symbol of Earth.