* 1981 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Saturn

* 1989 – Voyager 2 spacecraft makes its closest approach to Neptune, the second to last planet in the Solar System at the time.

Druyan was responsible for the selection of the music on the Voyager Golden Record for the pioneering exploratory missions of the Solar System — Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.

Two other satellites made observations at the time of the impact: the Ulysses spacecraft, primarily designed for solar observations, was pointed towards Jupiter from its location 2. 6 AU away, and the distant Voyager 2 probe, some 44 AU from Jupiter and on its way out of the Solar System following its encounter with Neptune in 1989, was programmed to look for radio emission in the 1 – 390 kHz range.

For example in 1979 The Voyager 1 and The Voyager 2 spotted 9 erupting volcanoes while passing Io.

The four most distant spacecraft ( Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 ) are on course to leave the Solar System.

* 1986 – Voyager 2 passes within of Uranus.

The planned Mariner 11 and Mariner 12 vehicles evolved into Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 of the Voyager program, while the Viking 1 and Viking 2 Mars orbiters were enlarged versions of the Mariner 9 spacecraft.

The Voyager program launched Voyager 1 and Voyager 2.

At the launch of OS / 2 Warp in 1994, Patrick Stewart was to be the Master of Ceremonies ; however Kate Mulgrew of the then-upcoming series Star Trek: Voyager was substituted at the last minute.

The search was largely abandoned in the early 1990s, when a study of measurements made by the Voyager 2 spacecraft found that the irregularities observed in Uranus's orbit were due to a slight overestimation of Neptune's mass.

A Voyager 2 image of Uranus ' rings.

A pair of Voyager 2 images of Neptune's rings.

* Voyager 2 – Jupiter flyby + Saturn flyby + first flybys / images of Neptune and Uranus

Between 1977 and the Voyager flyby in 1989, Triton shifted from a reddish colour, similar to Pluto, to a far paler hue, suggesting that in the intervening decade lighter nitrogen frosts had covered older reddish material.

Neptune ( top ) and Triton ( bottom ) three days after Voyager 2s flyby

In the end, the Voyager Program fulfilled many of the flyby objectives of the " Grand Tour " excepting any mission to Pluto, and dual missions to Uranus and Neptune.

Voyager 2 – First Uranus / first Neptune flyby

* Voyager 2 – 20 August 1977 – Jupiter / Saturn / first Uranus / first Neptune flyby

* Voyager 1 – 5 September 1977 – Jupiter / Saturn flyby, Furthest human-made object – currently ( 2012 ) over 120 AU

Image: Voyager. jpg | Voyager 2First Uranus flybyFirst Neptune flyby

Proteus was discovered from the images taken by Voyager 2 space probe two months before its Neptune flyby in August 1989.

* Voyager program — US Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune flyby and study of interstellar medium

Among the missions on which he has participated were the 1967 Mariner 5 flyby mission to Venus, the 1971 Mariner 9 orbiter mission to Mars, the Voyager mission to the outer planets of the solar system, the Galileo mission to Jupiter, and the Mars Global Surveyor orbiter.

This and the dark surface made it too dim to be detected by the Voyager 2 cameras during its Uranus flyby in 1986.

Because the moon is small and dark, it was not seen in the heavily scrutinized images taken by Voyager 2 during its Uranus flyby in 1986.

The remaining moons were discovered after 1985, either during the Voyager 2 flyby mission or with the aid of advanced Earth-based telescopes.

Decades later, the flyby of the Voyager 2 space probe in January 1986 led to the discovery of ten further inner moons.

Photograph of the crescent planet Neptune ( top ) and its moon Triton ( moon ) | Triton ( center ), taken by Voyager 2 during its 1989 flyby

Odysseus was discovered by Voyager 2 spacecraft on 1 September 1981 during its flyby of Saturn.

The rings were thoroughly investigated during the Voyager 2 spacecraft's flyby of Uranus in January 1986.

Courage, a very faint arc found during the Voyager flyby, was seen to flare in brightness in 1998, while more recently it was back to its usual dimness.

The rings were investigated in detail during the Voyager 2 spacecraft's flyby of Neptune in August 1989.

Ithaca Chasma was discovered by Voyager 1 spacecraft on 12 November 1980 during its flyby of Saturn.

However its full extent was realized only in 1981 after the Voyager 2 flyby.

He continued to refine his designs ; the most elaborate message he helped to develop and assemble was the Voyager Golden Record that was sent out with the Voyager space probes in 1977.

In 2002, Virgin Trains ' new £ 5m high speed Super Voyager train number 221130 was named " Michael Palin " – it carries his name externally and a plaque is located adjacent to the onboard shop with information on Palin and his many journeys.

The DKW Schnellaster, manufactured from 1949 to 1962 was a small monospace ( or one-box ) design featuring its front wheels set forward of the passenger cabin, a short, sloping aerodynamic hood, front-wheel drive, transverse engine, flat load floor throughout with flexible seating and cargo accommodations – the key design ingredients that describe the modern minivan configuration popularized in such notable examples as the Renault Espace and Chrysler Voyager / Caravan minivans.

Lasting eleven years before being merged with The WB network to become The CW in 2006, UPN would feature many of the shows it originally produced for other networks, and would take numerous gambles on series such as Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Enterprise that would have otherwise either gone direct-to-cable or become first-run syndication to independent stations across the country.

In 1995, Viacom and Chris-Craft Industries ' United Television launched United Paramount Network ( UPN ) with Star Trek: Voyager as its flagship series, fulfilling Barry Diller's plan for a Paramount network from 25 years earlier.

Neptune's rings are very unusual in that they first appeared to be composed of incomplete arcs in Earth-based observations, but Voyager 2's images showed them to be complete rings with bright clumps.

It has yet to be revealed whether this had any bearing on the decision to cancel the program since Voyager was offered to syndication midway through its run with no impact on its network status, and TNG, DS9, and Voyager all saw episodes released to home video during their runs, long before those series ended.

In the Voyager episode, " Non Sequitur ," Tom Paris ' alternate self ( in the parallel dimension ) relates to Harry Kim a story about how, during a stop at Deep Space Nine, he got in a bar fight with a Ferengi and was thrown in the brig by " a very unpleasant shapeshifter ", obviously referring to Odo.

During the course of the TV series, Voyager has contact with the Q Continuum on three occasions, and repeated contact with the Borg.

However, during the episode " The Killing Game ," in which the Hirogen had taken over Voyager and forced the crew to participate in holodeck recreations of various combat situations which included World War II Europe, the holodeck character played by B ' Elanna Torres is portrayed as pregnant with a Nazi officer's child.

In 2371, B ' Elanna Torres joined the Voyager crew with the rest of the Maquis from the Val Jean, as Captain Kathryn Janeway offers them the opportunity.

In an alternate timeline where Voyager made it home by different means, Miral was shown as an adult serving in Starfleet, with the rank of ensign.

Captain Kathryn Janeway, the commanding officer of Voyager, offered the Val Jean crew a chance to serve on her ship, and appointed Chakotay as her first officer with the provisional rank of Lieutenant Commander ( in episode " Caretaker ").

Chakotay becomes increasingly agitated with the situation and eventually leaves the ship, turning over command of Voyager to a new captain, Afsarah Eden.

In the series pilot, Kes is taken on board the USS Voyager crew with her partner, Neelix, who was responsible for rescuing her from the Kazon.

During her time aboard Voyager, Kes develops a close friendship with the Doctor while working as his assistant medical technician.

She can no longer remain with Voyager, but before leaving, she uses her newly acquired powers to hurl Voyager and crew safely beyond Borg space, 9, 500 light-years closer to Earth.

The marooning of Voyager in the Delta Quadrant provided Paris with a new beginning.

In the episode " Q2 ", which is the last televised appearance of Q, Q appears on Voyager with his immature, rebellious son, who appears as a human teenager ( played by John de Lancie's real-life son Keegan de Lancie, and referred to in the novels as " Little Q " or " q ").

However, Voyager does not always deal with the unknown.