NASA schedules Voyager 1 to reach a distance of one light-day from Earth on November 18, 2026, at 5:16:07 a.m. EST. The agency’s page, updated November 3, still lists the crossing as upcoming. NASA defines a light-day as the distance light travels in 24 hours: 25,902,068,356 kilometers. NASA’s schedule and light-day explanation
What a one-light-day distance means for communication
At that distance, a signal takes about 24 hours to travel from Earth to Voyager 1, then about 24 hours for a reply to return. That makes roughly 48 hours of signal transit for a command-and-response exchange, before any additional time to process the command or reply.
A light-day measures distance, not how long Voyager 1 has been traveling. NASA’s figure is about 25.9 billion kilometers from Earth.
Voyager 1 is in interstellar space, within the Milky Way
Voyager 1 entered interstellar space beyond the heliosphere in August 2012. The heliosphere is the region shaped by the Sun’s influence; crossing its boundary took the spacecraft into the space between stars. It remains within the Milky Way, which NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory says Voyager 1 will continue orbiting with the Sun. NASA’s overview of the interstellar mission and NASA/JPL’s account of Voyager 1’s journey
NASA’s projections for Voyager 2 and Gliese 445
NASA projects that Voyager 2 will reach one light-day from Earth in November 2035. For Voyager 1, NASA projects a close pass within about 1.7 light-years of Gliese 445 in about 40,000 years. The star itself is more than 17 light-years from Earth.
