Voyager 2 At Uranus

Twenty-five years ago, Voyager 2, after a roundabout flight through the outer Solar System, encountered Uranus. It was the first, and so far the only, human spacecraft to reach the planet, providing the first close up images of that world, its rings, and its family of moons.

The Voyager program, consisting of two souped up Mariner spacecraft, was a remarkable success, as it gave humanity a first up close glimpse of the wonders and puzzles of the realm of the gas giants.

In launching the Voyagers, NASA took advantage of a rare alignment of the outer planets that allowed it to use the gravity of one huge world to slingshot the tiny spacecraft on to the next-- an amazing example of celestial navigation. Likely, another quarter century at least will elapse before another spacecraft reaches Uranus.