The Voyager probes are moving incredibly fast, yet they will never reach Alpha Centauri

Space · Published 23 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Launched in 1977, the Voyager spacecraft are the most distant human-made objects in existence. They are hurtling through the void at over 38,000 miles per hour, but despite this record-breaking speed, the vast scale of the universe means their journey to our nearest stellar neighbors is effectively a standstill.

While Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 have successfully crossed the heliopause to enter interstellar space, their trajectory is not aimed at our closest neighboring star system. To understand the scale of the challenge, consider a meter stick representing the distance from our Sun to Alpha Centauri. At its current position, Voyager 1 would be located just over the 0.5 mm mark, having covered only 0.06% of the total distance. Voyager 1 has already traveled more than 24 billion km on its outward journey, while its twin, Voyager 2, has covered over 20 billion km from Earth.

The sheer mathematics of interstellar travel reveal a staggering timeline. Even if the probes were pointed in the correct direction, it would take nearly 75,000 years to cover the distance to Alpha Centauri at their current rate. The movement of stars also complicates the mission; because stars are in motion, Voyager 1 is actually projected to pass within 1.7 light years of the star AC +79 3888 (also known as Gliese 445) in approximately 40,000 years. The probe's current velocity is nearly 17 km/s. This speed is part of a journey that took 35 years just to reach the edge of our solar system.

The era of active human connection to these explorers is also nearing its end. Although both probes continue to transmit data from the space between stars, they are expected to fall silent forever by 2030. Beyond that point, the spacecraft will continue to drift through the cosmos for millions or even billions of years, carrying the Golden Record—humanity's message to the universe—as silent artifacts of a long-lost civilization. The spacecraft carry an inscribed golden disk containing a message from Earth. These probes remain the most distant human-made objects ever built.

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