Voyager approaches one light-day away

On Nov. 18, Voyager 1 spacecraft will be 25.9 billion kilometres from Earth — the first human-made object to reach a distance of one light-day away. Bob McDonald watched Voyager 2 launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 20, 1977, alongside Jon Lomberg, the space artist and design director for the Golden Record, the time capsule aboard both spacecraft. They reconnect to chat about the launch and the meaning of the mission. Joe Westlake, a space physicist and NASA’s Heliophysics division director, explains how the Voyager spacecraft continue to make scientific discoveries about the galaxy beyond our solar system, almost 50 years later. <p...