Voyager 2

***Voyager 2*** is a space probe. It was used by NASA to explore Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.  It is the only spacecraft that has come near to Uranus and Neptune.  Because of this, most pictures of these two ice planets are from this spacecraft.  It was identical in form to its sister space probe, _Voyager 1_.  The space probe is currently moving away from the Solar System. It is heading out into interstellar space.

_Voyager 2_ was launched on August 20, 1977. It is now in an extended mission. Its encounter with the largest natural satellite of Neptune, Triton sent it on a hyperbolic trajectory out of the Solar System. It was moving at about . This is much faster than escape velocity.

Both _Voyager 1_ and _Voyager 2_ hold the Voyager Golden Record. This is a recording of sounds and images of life on Earth.  It was designed by a team led by Carl Sagan. The Golden Record is to communicate with extraterrestrial life.

Voyager 2 is the second spacecraft to exit from the Solar System and enter into the interstellar space. It did so 6 years after Voyager 1. In 2018, NASA said that Voyager 2 had reached the heliopause on 5 November 2018. On July 18, 2023, Voyager 2 overtook Pioneer 10 to become the 2nd farthest spacecraft from the Sun, at a distance of 133.917 AU (nearly 12.45 billion miles or approximately 2034.00 billion km) from the Sun.

## Related pages

- Pioneer 10
- Pioneer 11
- Voyager 1
- Exploration of Neptune

## Other websites

- NASA _Voyager_ website
- _Voyager_ Spacecraft Lifetime
- Voyager 2 Mission Profile  by NASA's Solar System Exploration
- Spacecraft Escaping the Solar System  - current positions and diagrams
- Mission state
- VOYAGER RECENT 6-HOUR HISTORY
- Voyager 2 Detects Odd Shape of Solar System's Edge  23 May 2006

## Infobox (spaceflight/ip)

- **type**: flyby
- **object**: Jupiter
- **arrival date**: July 9, 1979, 22:29:00 UTC


## Infobox (spaceflight/ip)

- **type**: flyby
- **object**: Saturn
- **arrival date**: August 26, 1981, 03:24:05 UTC


## Infobox (spaceflight/ip)

- **type**: flyby
- **object**: Uranus
- **arrival date**: January 24, 1986, 17:59:47 UTC


## Infobox (spaceflight/ip)

- **type**: flyby
- **object**: Neptune
- **arrival date**: August 25, 1989, 03:56:36 UTC


## Infobox (spaceflight)

- **name**: _Voyager 2_
- **image**: Voyager spacecraft model.png
- **image caption**: Model of the _Voyager_ spacecraft design
- **image alt**: Model of a small-bodied spacecraft with a large, central dish and many arms and antennas extending from it
- **mission type**: Planetary exploration
- **operator**: NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory, JPL
- **cospar id**: 1977-076A
- **satcat**: 10271
- **mission duration**: elapsed
<small>Planetary mission: 12 years, 1 month, 12 days
Interstellar mission:  elapsed (continuing)</small>
- **manufacturer**: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- **power**: 470 watts (at launch)
- **launch date**:  UTC
- **launch rocket**: Titan IIIE
- **launch site**: Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 41, LC-41
- **programme**: Flagship Program, Flagship
- **previous mission**: Viking 2
- **next mission**: Voyager 1