Cape Schools Ask a Scientist Blog

Hello Cape Elizabeth Students,

We are discussing some of your other questions among ourselves. They are really good! Here is the answer to one of your questions about space travel.

What is the furthest we have traveled in space with any form of technology?

In 1977, NASA launched the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, the ships to go the furthest into space. With Voyager 1, we have been able to travel ~20,030,799,000 KM into interstellar space. With Voyager 1, we have been able to travel 16,452,527,000KM in the Heliosheath. The Heliosheath is the outermost layer of the heliospere where particles from the sun get slowed down by the pressure of interstellar gases.

Source: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/where/index.html

-Jocelyn

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4f/Voyager_1_entering_heliosheath_region.jpg

Here is a similar picture, so that you can understand the scale we are talking about.

Source: Wikimedia Commons