Alpha Centauri is about four-light years away. There's a lot of empty space between us and this star.
Shuttles travel only a few hundred kilometers into space.
If Earth were the size of a sand grain, this would be about the width of a hair in contrast to the 10 kilometers to Alpha Centauri. So space shuttles are far from being star ships. The Voyagers aren't aimed toward Alpha Centauri, but if they were, they'd take about 50,000 years to get there. That's our show for today. Our show is made possible by the National Science Foundation .