Earth photographed from 6 billion kilometers away. At Sagan's request, Voyager 1 turned its camera back toward home one final time. Our entire world — every human who ever lived — captured in a single pixel of light.

Voyager 1 captured this stunning portrait of Jupiter during its closest approach at 349,000 km. The Great Red Spot — a storm larger than Earth that has raged for centuries — is clearly visible.

Saturn as seen by Voyager 1 during its flyby. The spacecraft studied Saturn's ring system and its moon Titan in unprecedented detail, fundamentally changing our understanding of the outer solar system.

Jupiter's moon Io, the most volcanically active body in the solar system. Voyager 1 discovered active volcanism on Io — the first time volcanic activity had been observed anywhere beyond Earth.

An artist's rendering of the Voyager 1 spacecraft. The probe weighs 722 kg, carries 11 science instruments, and draws power from three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) using plutonium-238.

The Golden Record carried aboard Voyager 1 — a 12-inch gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images of life on Earth, intended for any intelligent life that might one day find the spacecraft.

Technicians at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory assemble and test Voyager 1. Every component had to function flawlessly for decades in the harshest environment imaginable — temperatures near absolute zero, no air, no repair missions.

The Voyager Mission Operations Center at JPL. Flight controllers have monitored telemetry from both Voyager spacecraft around the clock for nearly 50 years — an unbroken vigil across the solar system and beyond.

Astronomer Carl Sagan — who led the team that created the Golden Record — with Chuck Berry, whose "Johnny B. Goode" was selected to represent rock and roll on humanity's first interstellar message.

Scientists gather for the first Voyager science meeting in 1972. The team would spend five years planning trajectories, designing experiments, and preparing for a Grand Tour of the outer planets that occurs only once every 175 years.

The Titan III-E/Centaur rocket nose cone that carried Voyager 1 into space. One of the most powerful launch vehicles of its era, the Titan-Centaur gave Voyager 1 the velocity needed to escape Earth's gravity and race toward Jupiter.

Dr. Ed Stone, Voyager Project Scientist, briefs the press during the historic Saturn flyby. Stone led the Voyager science team for over 40 years and became the enduring public face of humanity's greatest exploration mission.