Voyager 2 Launches: Journey to the Outer Planets
Voyager 2 launched on August 20, 1977, sixteen days before Voyager 1, but its trajectory was slower. Its sister craft passed it and took the name that implied it went first. Voyager 2 had a different mission: visit all four outer planets. It flew past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune — the only spacecraft ever to visit the last two. At Neptune in 1989, it photographed Triton's geysers and a Great Dark Spot that later disappeared. As of the 2020s, it's in interstellar space, still transmitting. Still moving away from us at 55,000 kilometers per hour.
August 20, 1977
49 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on August 20
Agrippa Postumus, the last surviving grandson of Augustus, was executed by his guards while in exile on the island of Planasia — almost certainly on orders from…
Khalid ibn al-Walid's decisive victory at Yarmouk shatters Byzantine defenses, handing Syria and Palestine to Arab forces in a single stroke. This defeat trigge…
Tsar Simeon I crushed the Byzantine army at the Battle of Anchialus, securing a decisive victory that shattered the empire's military prestige. This rout forced…
Tsar Simeon I crushed the Byzantine army at the Battle of Acheloos, ending the empire's dominance in the Balkans. This victory forced Constantinople to recogniz…
Stephen I received a papal crown and declared Hungary a Christian kingdom, transforming a confederation of Magyar tribes into a recognized European state aligne…
Saint Stephen consolidated the Hungarian state by formally adopting Christianity and receiving a crown from the Pope, effectively integrating his people into th…
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