30th Anniversery of the Voyager missions

[MeteorWayne]

NASA Voyager Pages <br /><br />Today, September 5th is the 30th Anniversery of the Voyager 1 launch.<br /><br />Voyager 2 was launched earlier, on August 20th, but since it got to the primary target (Jupiter) later (8/20/79 vs 7/9/79 for Voyager 1) it became V2.<br /><br />Most of you are too young to remember these times, but this was 7 years after the last moon landings, and we space geeks were starved for input (to quote Johnny 5)<br /><br />The Voyagers were the first pioneers to the outer solar system, increasing our knowledge of the solar system by many orders of magnitude.<br /><br />So I thought I'd tip my hat to these intrepid craft, and the geniuses that used slide rules and guts to create these missions.<br /><br />Which by the way, still continue in some form, 30 years on <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[mccorvic]

They were both launched before I was born (1984), but they Voyagers still had a large impact on my life. I recall being a young kid (in the early 90s) and visiting the Denver Museum of Natural History and seeing tons of large displays of the pictures taken by the Voaygers. I still recall being amazed that just two spacecraft were able to travel so far and do so much.

 

[MeteorWayne]

Welcome to SDC!<br />I'm glad these missions before you were born impressed you.<br /><br />By the time you were a kid, most of the detail we knew about the Gas giants came from these wonderful craft. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080"><em><font color="#000000">But the Krell forgot one thing John. Monsters. Monsters from the Id.</font></em> </font></p><p><font color="#000080">I really, really, really, really miss the "first unread post" function</font><font color="#000080"> </font></p> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

I was born in 1975. I grew up on the Voyager missions. My family was fortunate enough to have a VCR back in 1980, and we videotaped a NOVA special on the Voyager program. You know how a lot of little kids these days get a favorite video that they end up wearing out because they watch it so often? That was mine. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> Not a Disney movie, not Mr Rogers -- a NOVA special about Voyager. It talked about the Jupiter and Saturn encounters, then at the end talked a bit about how Voyager 2 would go on to visit Uranus and Neptune . . . .<br /><br />I have to raid my parents' basement to find that tape one of these days. Or see if it's available on DVD. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[brellis]

Calli, you may find it on NASA's channel.<br /><br />I get NASA on my DirectTV. It is pretty much the only channel I watch any more. Everything else is too lame.<br /><br />They have many Gallery/History reruns of old reels about Voyager, Mercury/Apollo, even SkyLab.<br /><br />My absolute favorite is the narcotically slow footage of the shuttle getting wheeled out to the launch pad. I love that rig!<br /><br />This morning they had a "hip" (eek!) new reel on the new manned missions to the moon and mars called "Destination Mars" or something like that.<br /><br />As silly as their attempt was to seem hip and cool, the prospect of these new missions actually happening feels a little closer with the arrival of publicity reels! <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[bobblebob]

What data do Nasa get back from them now? Is it any meaningful data that will help understand our solar system better, or just to say they're still alive?

 

[brellis]

Voyager Interstellar Mission <br /><br />Check this page for highlights <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font size="2" color="#ff0000"><em><strong>I'm a recovering optimist - things could be better.</strong></em></font> </p> </div>

 

[symbolite]

It'll be awesome when these craft reach Interstellar Wind. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[3488]

It is more than just awesome.<br /><br />It will be a gigantic major first.<br /><br />Human built spacecraft, lasting MANY times longer than expected, samples the intersteller environment.<br /><br />The first EVER human built spacecraft, to sample the winds of OTHER suns, to sample<br />intersteller material ON SITE, IN SITU, completely isolated from our parent Sun.<br /><br />To measure the magnetic environment in the intersteller medium, not influenced by our<br />own Sun.<br /><br />This is major, our first tentative steps into Intersteller Space.<br /><br />Very, very, exciting stuff indeed. <img src="/images/icons/laugh.gif" /><br /><br />Well done NASA & JPL.<br /><br />Andrew Brown. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><font color="#000080">"I suddenly noticed an anomaly to the left of Io, just off the rim of that world. It was extremely large with respect to the overall size of Io and crescent shaped. It seemed unbelievable that something that big had not been visible before".</font> <em><strong><font color="#000000">Linda Morabito </font></strong><font color="#800000">on discovering that the Jupiter moon Io was volcanically active. Friday 9th March 1979.</font></em></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://www.launchphotography.com/</font><br /><br /><font size="1" color="#000080">http://anthmartian.googlepages.com/thisislandearth</font></p><p><font size="1" color="#000080">http://web.me.com/meridianijournal</font></p> </div>

 

[dragon04]

Double dig it. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /><br /><br /><br />It's pretty profound looking back. I'm 46 and the Voyagers have been on the job for almost 2/3 of my life.<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>