Space exploration: To infinity and beyond from The Economist: Full print edition Showing man worlds he had never seen

IN THE summer of 1977 two American spacecraft were launched on what is arguably the grandest mission ever: the exploration of the outer planets of the solar system and the space that lies beyond. More than three decades later, they have become the farthest man-made objects from Earth, reaching out in the darkness to overtake earlier missions to oblivion. The Voyager spacecraft have not only clocked up a far better understanding of the outer planets, they also illustrate mankind’s third great age of discovery, according to Stephen Pyne in a fascinating new book. ...

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