NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is about to become the first human-made object to travel one light-day from Earth. According to NASA, the probe will cross that mark on Wednesday, November 18, 2026, at 5:16:07 a.m. EST.
A light-day is the distance light travels in 24 hours. For Voyager 1, that works out to 16,094,799,096 miles, or 25,902,068,356 kilometres. Once it passes the mark, a radio signal from the spacecraft will take a full day to reach Earth.
Voyager 1 launched in 1977 to study Jupiter and Saturn. NASA said it will have taken 49 years, two months and 11 days to reach one light-day from Earth, travelling at nearly 38,000 miles per hour. The spacecraft crossed into interstellar space in August 2012.
The probe is now headed toward a star more than 17 light-years away called Gliese 445, also catalogued as AC +79 3888. NASA expects it to pass within about 1.7 light-years of that star in roughly 40,000 years. Its twin, Voyager 2, is on pace to reach one light-day from Earth in November 2035.
Source: NASA
