Voyager spacecraft at Saturn, Illustration. Two Voyager spacecraft (Voyager 1 and Voyager 2) were launched in 1977. This timing took advantage of a rare alignment of the giant outer planets Jupiter and Saturn, which made it possible for the spacecraft to visit them in a single mission. The probes successfully beamed images and scientific data back to Earth using their dish. Voyager 2 is currently 110 AU from the Earth ??one of the most distant man-made objects in space. In this illustration it is seen passing a comet nucleus as it heads out into interstellar space, its mission among the planets long over.