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Airdate: The Farthest

As part of NASA's 60th Anniversary celebrations, National Geographic doco looks back on the 1977 Voyager mission.

Throughout the month of October, National Geographic marks the 60th Anniversary of NASA.

Part of the program line-up, is the premiere of feature-length documentary special, The Farthest, the story of NASA’s spectacular Voyager mission.

Is it humankind’s greatest achievement? 12 billion miles away a tiny spaceship is leaving our Solar System and entering the void of deep space. It is the first human-made object ever to do so.

Slowly dying within its heart is a plutonium generator that will beat for perhaps another decade before the lights on Voyager finally go out. But this little craft will travel on for millions of years, carrying a Golden Record bearing recordings and images of life on Earth. In all likelihood Voyager will outlive humanity and all our creations. It could be the only thing to mark our existence.

Launched in 1977, the twin Voyager spacecraft revolutionised planetary science, resolved key questions about the outer planets and raised intriguing new ones about the evolution of our solar system.

The story of Voyager is an epic of human achievement, personal drama and almost miraculous success. With less computing power than a modern hearing aid, they have unlocked the stunning secrets of our Solar System on a journey as revolutionary as the first circumnavigation of the globe and mankind’s first footprint on the moon.

With the participation of 25 of the original and current mission scientists, engineers and team members, the film tells the captivating tales of one of humanity’s greatest achievements in exploration. Also one of Voyager’s most iconic elements: The Golden Record, which carries greetings, music and images from Earth to any alien beings they might one day encounter.

In this powerful, poetic and cinematic feature documentary, The Farthest celebrates these magnificent machines, the men and women who built them and the vision that propelled them farther than anyone could ever have hoped.

Passionate organic storytelling with people, images, archive and opinion woven with daring and brio makes The Farthest a genuinely cinema-scale adventure.

7.30pm Wednesday 10th October on National Geographic.

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