NASA’s Voyager 1 is set to become the first human-made object to reach a distance of one light-day from Earth this month. The Planetary Society will mark the milestone with a livestream on Nov. 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET, available in its online member community and on YouTube.
Voyager team members to join the broadcast
Three people from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory will take part: Voyager Project Manager Suzanne Dodd, Mission Manager Kareem Badaruddin and Project Scientist Linda Spilker. They are expected to share stories from their decades working on the mission. Space artist Don Davis will also appear and unveil a new piece commemorating the milestone. The Society says more details will follow.
Masursky Award for two Planetary Society leaders
The Planetary Society also announced that Casey Dreier, its chief of space policy, and Jack Kiraly, its chief of advocacy, received the 2026 Harold Masursky Award. The American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences presented it at its conference last week, recognizing exceptional service to planetary science and space exploration.
In their acceptance speech, Kiraly announced the dates of the organization’s next Day of Action in Washington, D.C.: Jan. 31 to Feb. 1.
The Society is also recruiting a Community Organizer for its Space Policy and Advocacy team. The new role is meant to build a network of advocates and expand the organization’s grassroots effort supporting the scientific exploration of space. Applicants must be authorized to work in the United States.
Hubble’s discovery and a proposed national day
The latest episode of the Society’s Planetary Radio podcast looks back 102 years to Edwin Hubble’s discovery that galaxies exist beyond the Milky Way. The episode covers the significance of that finding and an effort to designate Oct. 5 as National Beyond the Milky Way Day. The episode is illustrated with Hubble’s original glass photographic plate of the Andromeda Nebula, made with the 100-inch Hooker Telescope at Mt. Wilson Observatory. Carnegie Science provided the plate, and Sarah Al-Ahmed of the Planetary Society took the image.
Source: www.planetary.org
