Voyager 1 launched in 1977 on a four-year mission and is still flying 49 years later, now so far away that in November 2026 a radio signal will take a full 24 hours to reach it — so when engineers say “good morning” on a Monday, the answer won’t arrive until Wednesday.

Voyager 1 launched in 1977 on a four-year mission and is still flying 49 years later, now so far away that in November 2026 a radio signal will take a full 24 hours to reach it — so when engineers say “good morning” on a Monday, the answer won’t arrive until Wednesday.

Voyager 1 launched in 1977 on a four-year mission to Jupiter and Saturn, and forty-nine years later, it is still flying, still transmitting, and still taking commands from more than 15 billion miles away. In late 2026, it will cross a line no machine has ever reached. It will be so far from Earth that a radio signal traveling at the speed of light takes a full 24 hours to reach it, which means the engineers who say “good morning, Voyager” on a M…