Follow your heart: you will be another Voyager.

On September 5, 1977, NASA launched what would be the first spacecraft to reveal the massive amount of detail in the rings of Saturn, discover the astonishing rings of Jupiter, and capture the first detailed pictures of the rings of Uranus and Neptune, Voyager 1. Another companion Voyager spacecraft, Voyager 2, was launched on August 20, 1977 and was the first to study all four of the solar system's giant planets at close range. Although there were a number of spacecraft that were launched before the Voyager twins, what made these spacecraft so notable and well known across the world?

The purpose of both the Voyager twins was to study (and find) the edge of our solar system and the giant planets consisting of Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus just to name a few. They were also designed to study an extremely rare planetary event in order to study the outer system but up close. However, these twins have garnered and sent more information than NASA expected to. Likewise, the twins were authentically designed and built to last in orbit for around 5 years, but be that as it may, Voyagers 1 and 2 had stayed in space for 45 years: around 9 times the original planned lifespan of the Voyager twins.

When people have thoughts in terms of the Voyager twins, they often see them as a sign of hope. “What makes the impossible possible” is a phrase that I would use. For instance, humans now dream of colonizing another planet that is habitable but this dream is still impossible. With the Voyagers, however, they might discover planets with habitable conditions similar to Earth and humans may be able to migrate to that planet. Another reason why humans consider the Voyager twins as hope is that every second, the Voyager twins break their own limit and exceed humanity’s knowledge of space and physics. The Voyager twins were also the ones that conducted and completed assignments far beyond other spacecraft’s capability.

On the day when the Voyager twins were launched into space, people didn’t believe that they will give any valuable knowledge or the mission will succeed. However, over the last 45 years, the Voyagers have still been traveling and sent far more valuable information to NASA then planned. Thanks to the Voyager twins, we now know more about the gas giants and the essential information for understanding and studying Uranus and Neptune than ever. The twins also led incredible breakthroughs in space that no spacecraft alone ever accomplished. This led most people to depend on the Voyager twins and become more optimistic as they kept making breakthroughs such as discovering new moons.

Although there is only 3 years left before the Voyager twins will be decommissioned, there is still hope left for the twins to cross the Oort cloud and may go beyond. Even if they don’t accomplish this, they will still be remembered by people as a symbol of hope and will live on forever. I wish more spacecraft such as the Voyager twins will be created and the future may be our greatest dreams we have ever thought of now.