Voyager 1

Launched on 5 September 1977, Voyager 1 conducted flybys of Jupiter in 1979 and Saturn in 1980 before continuing on a trajectory out of the solar system, becoming the first human-made object to enter interstellar space in August 2012. As of 2026 it is over 24 billion kilometres from Earth and still transmitting data, making it the most distant spacecraft and the longest-operating scientific mission in history.