Signals from Earth now take 23 hours and 9 minutes to reach Voyager 1—and just as long to return. That’s nearly a full day round-trip to communicate with our most distant spacecraft!

Coming up: In January 2027, Voyager 1 is expected to reach a new cosmic milestone—one light-day (about 25.9 billion km) from the Sun—right on time for the 50th anniversary of its launch. While it may still be operational, engineers might need to shut down some instruments due to declining power from its aging radioisotope source.

To put things into perspective: the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is 4.24 light-years away. At its current speed, it would take Voyager 1 roughly 74,000 years to get there.

An incredible legacy of exploration—still writing history across the stars.