Aug 20 2002
From The Space Library
NASA's Voyager 2 spacecraft completed its 25th year of operation. As the probe reached its anniversary, Voyager 2 was 6.3 billion miles (10 billion kilometers) from the Sun and moving toward the edge of the solar system at more than 35,000 miles per hour (56,000 kilometers per hour). Since its launch on 20 August 1977, Voyager 2 had provided photographs of planets Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and their respective moons, as well as other data. At 25 years old, the spacecraft continued to send data to Earth. Scientists estimated that Voyager 2 could reach the boundary of the solar system in another seven to 21 years. However, they also expected that, by 2020, the spacecraft might not have sufficient power to maintain contact with Earth. (William Harwood, “Voyager Celebrates 25 Years of Space Discovery,” Washington Post, 19 August 2002.)
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