The Voyager team stands behind a model of the Voyager spacecraft. Project Manager, Ed Massey, stands at the far left. Click on image for full size (123K JPEG) Courtesy of NASA/JPL

The Shuttle Columbia took astronauts to visit the Hubble and during five space walks, astronauts were able to service the Telescope. Another maintenance mission was undertaken on the Voyager 1 spacecraft...but this time maintenance took place from Earth, as Voyager is 7 billion miles away! This spacecraft was launched in 1977 and was slated as a 4-year mission. Both Voyager spacecraft are still going strong and are currently headed for the heliopause. But, Voyager 1 needed a new position-sensing system, including a Sun sensor and star tracker. Luckily a back up was placed on the spacecraft when it was built. The current Voyager team cautiously activated this sensing system and the back up system was successfully in place as of April 1, 2002.

In other mission news, Cassini has successfully completed a course adjustment and is well on its way to Saturn. Cassini was launched in October 1997 and will arrive at Saturn on July 1, 2004. Just two years to go!

The Voyager team stands behind a model of the Voyager spacecraft. Project Manager, Ed Massey, stands at the far left. Click on image for full size (123K JPEG) Courtesy of NASA/JPL

The Shuttle Columbia took astronauts to visit the Hubble and during five space walks, astronauts were able to service the Telescope. Another maintenance mission was done on the Voyager 1 spacecraft...but this time maintenance took place from Earth, because Voyager 1 is 7 billion miles away! This spacecraft was launched in 1977 and was slated as a 4-year mission. In 2002, Voyager 1 was still going strong, but needed a new position-sensing system, including a Sun sensor and star tracker. Luckily a back up was placed on the spacecraft when it was built. The current Voyager team activated this sensing system which has been working successfully since April 1, 2002.

In other mission news, Cassini has successfully completed a course adjustment and is well on its way to Saturn. Cassini was launched in October 1997 and will arrive at Saturn on July 1, 2004. Just two years to go!

The Voyager team stands behind a model of the Voyager spacecraft. Project Manager, Ed Massey, stands at the far left. Click on image for full size (123K JPEG) Courtesy of NASA/JPL

Voyager 1 also needed to be fixed. But, NASA couldn't send astronauts to fix that spacecraft because Voyager 1 is way past Pluto! So scientists sent signals to Voyager so that the spacecraft would turn on a back up position-sensing system. The spacecraft needed a new one of these so that it will know where it is.

Cassini fired its engines for about 10 seconds last week, putting it back on track for its trip to Saturn. Cassini was launched in October 1997 and will arrive at Saturn on July 1, 2004. Just two years to go! How old will you be when Cassini gets to Saturn?