Today’s news features Voyager 1 as it appears to be reaching the edge of the solar system. It’s hard to believe that Voyager 1 and 2 were launched in 1977—36 years ago—and they’re still sending data (although it takes 17 hours for the data to reach the Earth). It has traveled farther than any other man-made object. What a technological accomplishment!
What else was happening in 1977? Gas in the US was 62 cents per gallon, Jimmy Carter was president, Elvis Presley died, the original Star Wars was the highest grossing movie, the first Apple II computers went on sale, hydrothermal vents were discovered near the Galapagos, the world population was 4.2 billion (compared to 7 billion today), US unemployment was 7.1%, cell phones began public testing, and the space shuttle Enterprise made its first test glide.
NASA’s Voyager website has complete information on the Voyager project—past, present, and future.
Other Voyager news:
New York Times
LA Times
National Geographic
BBC News
Image: NASA