In 1979, Alan Cummings, a scientist working on NASA’s groundbreaking Voyager mission, witnessed an extraordinary sight that gave him chills. As he entered a room at Caltech in Pasadena, California, he saw an alien world projected on a screen – a moon teeming with active volcanoes. The image, just transmitted from space, revealed Jupiter’s moon Io, the most volcanic place in our solar system. Cummings, a cosmic-ray physicist who had been working on the Voyager mission for 51 years, initially thought it was a prank by Caltech students. However, the image was real, and it showcased a world unlike anything ever seen before, with erupting volcanoes and flowing lava. The Voyager spacecraft, launched in 1977 and designed to last only five years, has far exceeded its original mission to explore Jupiter and Saturn. Nearly 50 years later, they continue to operate and have ventured into interstellar space, providing unprecedented insights into the universe. Despite glitches and challenges, a dedicated team of Voyager engineers has kept these remarkable spacecraft functioning, ensuring that they continue to inspire and inform us about the wonders of deep space.
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