Together, the two Voyager spacecraft performed an epic "Grand Tour" of the solar system's giant planets, flying by Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune.
"When we launched, the Space Age itself was only 20 years old, so this is an unparalleled journey, and we're still in the process of seeing what's out there," Stone, who's based at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, told Space.com.
Furthermore, Voyager observations suggested that the Jupiter moon Europa may harbor an ocean of water beneath its icy crust — a notion that later Nasa missions have pretty much confirmed.
But even after the probes power down, they'll continue speeding through the cosmos for eons, making one lap around the Milky Way every 225 million years.
Well, the probes' makers planned for this unlikely scenario: Both Voyagers carry a copy of the "Golden Record, " which is full of images and sounds of Earth, as well as directions to our planet.
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