Get ready for a historic milestone in space exploration: on November 13, 2026, humanity will witness a human-made object reach one light-day away from Earth for the very first time. This isn’t just a number—it’s a powerful reminder of how vast the universe is and how far we’ve come as a species. But here’s where it gets mind-boggling: this object, Voyager 1, has been traveling since 1977, and it’s still got a journey ahead that spans tens of thousands of years. How’s that for a long-term mission?
Space is staggeringly immense, and our attempts to explore it are, well, slow by comparison. The fastest humans have ever traveled was during the Apollo 10 mission in 1969, reaching speeds of 39,937.7 kilometers per hour (24,816.1 miles per hour). At that pace, it would take over 155 days just to travel one astronomical unit (AU), the distance between Earth and the Sun. To put it in perspective, that’s longer than most summer vacations—and light from the Sun reaches us in just 8 minutes. Talk about a humbling comparison!
But Voyager 1 is about to make history. By late 2026, it will be 25.9 billion kilometers (16 billion miles) from Earth, a distance light itself takes a full day to travel. This milestone, calculated by IFLScience’s astronomer Dr. Alfredo Carpineti using NASA’s data, marks the first time a human creation has ventured so far. And this is the part most people miss: after this date, Voyager 1 will never be within 24 light-hours of Earth again, even as our planet orbits the Sun.
But here’s where it gets controversial: while Voyager 1 is a marvel of human ingenuity, its journey also highlights how tiny our presence is in the cosmos. After it exhausts its power in the 2030s, it will drift silently through the Oort Cloud—a mysterious region at the edge of our Solar System—for tens of thousands of years. And in 40,000 years, it will have a close encounter with the star Gliese 445, coming closer to it than to our own Sun. Is this the ultimate legacy of humanity, or just a fleeting blip in the universe’s story?
NASA explains that the Oort Cloud, hypothesized by Dutch astronomer Jan Oort in 1950, is a vast region of undiscovered objects marking the gravitational edge of our Solar System. Voyager 1 could reach its inner edge in just 300 years, but traversing it entirely? That’ll take a staggering 30,000 years. And here’s the kicker: even after that, Voyager 1 will continue drifting through interstellar space, potentially encountering other stars over millions of years. Makes you wonder—will anyone ever find it again?
Studies suggest Voyager 1 will pass within 1.7 light-years of Gliese 445, a star with a third of our Sun’s mass. But it won’t stop there. In 303,000 years, it will brush past TYC 3135-52-1, another star, though still at a considerable distance. The odds of it being captured by a star anytime soon? Virtually zero. Instead, it will wander the cosmos indefinitely, carrying its Golden Records—a time capsule of humanity—as its only companion.
So, here’s a thought-provoking question for you: As Voyager 1 embarks on this eternal journey, what does it say about our place in the universe? Are we explorers destined for greatness, or just a tiny speck in an endless void? Let’s hear your thoughts in the comments—this is one conversation that’s truly out of this world.
