Voyager 1

The Voyager 1 spacecraft is a 722 kg (1,590 lb) space probe launched by NASA on September 5, 1977 to study the outer Solar System and interstellar medium. Operating for 35 years and 8 months as of 5 May 2013,[2] the spacecraft receives routine commands and transmits data back to the Deep Space Network. At a distance of about 124.02 AU (1.855×1010 km) as of April 2013,[3][4] it is the farthest man-made object from Earth and is currently traveling in a previously unknown region of space. It is still unclear whether this region is part of interstellar space or an area within the Solar System.

As part of the Voyager program, and like its sister craft Voyager 2, the spacecraft is in extended mission, tasked with locating and studying the boundaries of the Solar System, including the Kuiper belt, the heliosphere and interstellar space. The primary mission ended on November 20, 1980, after encountering the Jovian system in 1979 and the Saturnian system in 1980.[8] It was the first probe to provide detailed images of the two largest planets and their moons.

The Voyager 1 space craft was collected by the United Earth Ship Berlin in 2199 and can be seen in the Pre Astro Earth Museum - Washington DC - Earth