How far have we travelled and how much have we learned? The first space probe was launched in 1958, named Sputnik 1. However, an arguably more interesting launch is the Voyager 1 and 2 space probes from NASA, these have provided enough material to rewrite parts of physics and contributed towards major technological breakthroughs.

NASA launched these two space probes within months of each other, their primary purpose being to study Jupiter and Saturn. However, after doing this successfully their goals became redefined to explore the outermost edge of the sun’s domain and more. Voyager 1 has managed to exit our solar system and so far having travelled 13 billion miles, it entered a region called interstellar space, which is the space between the stars, Voyager 2 is following up and also expected to enter this region in a couple of years. When launched, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 initially had an estimated lifetime of 5 years, but through radio programming, engineers have managed to extend both their ventures towards 37 years, which is over 7 times what was initially planned.

Voyager 1 and 2 are so far away they cannot be seen, their radio signals can still be detected though and it looks like a blue dot. Although they cannot be seen physically, they’ve shown us how much there is.

As said by Chinese philosopher Laozi, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step”.