Elementary Student’s Book

Life
7c Page 86 READING TEXT

The longest journey in space

On 20th August and 5th September in 1977, two spacecrafts took off from Florida,
USA. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 started a long and difficult journey to the end of
the solar system. They flew past new places in our solar system and sent photos of
planets and moons to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).

Voyager 1’s journey

Voyager 1 arrived at Jupiter, the largest planet in the solar system. At a distance of
349,000 kilometres from Earth, scientists received the best photographs of the
planet from Voyager 1 and they discovered a lot about the planet’s weather from
them. They studied the clouds, lightning and strong winds of three hundred
kilometres per hour. Jupiter also has a moon with volcanoes. Voyager 1’s next stop
was Saturn. Saturn is smaller than Jupiter and it’s most famous for its rings. From
Voyager 1’s photographs, scientists discovered the rings are mostly water and ice.

Voyager 2’s journey

Voyager 2 also visited Jupiter and Saturn after Voyager 1, but then it continued to
Uranus. Uranus is the coldest planet in the solar system. There is a lot of ice on the
surface. During its journey round Uranus, there were mechanical problems with
Voyager 2’s camera. Eventually, scientists fixed it and Voyager 2 travelled to
Neptune. Neptune is the furthest planet from the sun (4.5 billion kilometres) and it
was the last planet on Voyager 2’s journey.

The journey continues

The two Voyagers finished their official journeys in 1989, but they continued
travelling. Now they are at the end of our solar system and scientists think the two
spacecrafts can travel until 2025. So Voyager 1 and 2 are on their most amazing
journey: into space outside our solar system.