35-year-old Voyager 2 is NASA's longest mission ever
[
CBS]
The iconic
Voyager 2 spacecraft celebrated its 35th birthday Monday (Aug.
20) in a milestone for NASA's longest-running mission ever. Voyager
2 launched in 1977 just 16 days before its twin, Voyager 1. The probes were
tasked chiefly with studying Saturn, Jupiter and the gas giants' moons, but have
continued on through the solar system and are now about to cross into
interstellar space. Voyager 1 is due to cross first, becoming the first
manmade object to travel beyond our solar system, and Voyager 2 is not far
behind.