For many, the Voyager Program is best remembered as the inspiration for the rogue probe V'Ger in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture.” That is rather sad, because but its true legacy is much more significant. There were only two Voyagers launched, but they radically reshaped our vision of our galaxy. The scientists who were and remain involved in the Voyager Program explain their challenges and breakthroughs in Emer Reynolds’s “The Farthest,” which screens during the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
In 1977, the planets literally aligned, allowing the Voyager probes to fly in close proximity past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, as well as several of their respective moons. It was an opportunity that only occurs once every 176 years or so, but fortunately, President Nixon had the foresight to authorize the program in 1972 (say what you will, but RMN generally “got” the space thing). Despite the subsequent administration changes, NASA managed to stay the course, launching first Voyager 2 and then Voyager 1, to the utter bafflement of the media.
Relying solely on interviews with surviving Voyage team members, archival media, and NASA footage, Reynolds chronicles the immense drama of each planetary pass. Frankly, it is remarkable just how much of the planetary images we now take for granted came from the Voyagers. Uranus and Neptune in particular were basically just white and blue dots in the sky. Viewing them through terrestrial telescopes was a lot like observing Iceland through binoculars from the coast of Maine.
Yet, the Voyagers keep going, carrying the “Golden Record” of music and greetings from the people of Earth to maybe nobody or perhaps beings we can only imagine.
Arguably, the Voyager Program is more intrinsically big-picture-speculative and purely scientific than the Apollo Program (one small step, what’s not to get?), so it really ought to be addressed in more philosophic and frankly poetic terms.
