Edward C. Stone Biography

Becomes project scientist for the mission later known as Voyager.

Voyager 2 launches on the mission that will eventually perform humanity's first close reconnaissance of Neptune.

Voyager 1 launches from Cape Canaveral to begin its outer-planet mission.

Voyager 1 completes its passage through the asteroid belt while continuing toward Jupiter.

Voyager 1 begins intensive approach observations of Jupiter and its satellites before closest approach.

Voyager imagery reveals extensive grooved terrain on Ganymede, demonstrating a complex geological history.

Voyager instruments record ultraviolet emissions associated with Jupiter's powerful auroral regions.

Voyager observations detect lightning in Jupiter's atmosphere, demonstrating powerful electrical storms.

Voyager 1 obtains the first close spacecraft image of Amalthea, showing its elongated reddish shape.

Voyager 1 makes its closest approach to Jupiter and surveys its atmosphere, rings and moons.

Voyager 2 begins its dedicated Jupiter observation campaign during approach to the Jovian system.

Voyager 2 flies past Jupiter and extends observations of the planet and Jovian satellites.

Voyager measurements refine Saturn's rotation period using radio and atmospheric observations.

Voyager 1 flies past Saturn and studies the planet, rings and major moons.

Supports extending Voyager 2 beyond Saturn toward Uranus after the successful primary planetary encounters.

Voyager 2 begins long-range Saturn observations ahead of its August encounter.

Voyager 2 observations map fast zonal winds and persistent atmospheric features on Saturn.

Voyager 2 flies past Saturn and extends studies of the planet, rings and moons.

Voyager 2 begins long-range scientific observations of Uranus before the January 1986 flyby.

Voyager 2 observations reveal ten previously unknown moons orbiting Uranus.

Voyager radio and magnetic measurements establish a rotation period of about seventeen hours for Uranus.

Voyager 2 observations reveal two additional rings and new detail in the existing ring system.

Voyager 2 makes the only spacecraft flyby of Uranus and its moons.

Stone oversees the return of an extensive Neptune data set from all ten functioning Voyager 2 instruments.

Voyager 2 begins sustained approach observations of Neptune from tens of millions of miles away.

Voyager 2 obtains the first detailed spacecraft images showing Neptune's system of dark rings.

Voyager 2 observations reveal six previously unknown moons in the inner Neptune system.

Voyager 2 passes close to Triton after its Neptune encounter and returns detailed surface observations.

Voyager 2 makes the first and only spacecraft flyby of Neptune.

Voyager 2's wide-angle imaging camera is switched off after completion of its planetary photography.

The Voyager Interstellar Mission formally begins after completion of the spacecrafts' planetary encounters.

Voyager 1's imaging cameras are switched off after completion of the Solar System family portrait.

Voyager 2's photopolarimeter is switched off after degraded performance ends the experiment.

Voyager 1 passes Pioneer 10 to become the most distant human-made object.

Voyager 1's infrared interferometer spectrometer is switched off to conserve limited electrical power.

Voyager 1 crosses the solar-wind termination shock and enters the heliosheath.

Voyager 1 becomes the first spacecraft to reach one hundred astronomical units from the Sun.

Voyager 1's plasma science instrument is switched off after its performance becomes degraded.

Voyager 2 crosses the termination shock at a different distance from Voyager 1.

Voyager 2's planetary radio astronomy experiment is switched off to conserve spacecraft power.

Voyager 1 measurements show the outward speed of the solar wind falling to nearly zero in the heliosheath.

Voyager 1 crosses the heliopause and becomes the first human-made object in interstellar space.

NASA announces evidence that Voyager 1 has entered interstellar space.

Voyager 2 becomes the second spacecraft to enter interstellar space.

Retires as Voyager project scientist after five decades guiding the mission.