Voyager 1, the second spacecraft sent to study Saturn (the first being Pioneer 11), passed by the gas giant on November 12, 1980. Launched on September 5, 1977 (my birthday!), it took advantage of a rare planetary alignment and used gravity to swing by one planet (Jupiter) to the next without a large propulsion system.
Voyager 1 found three new Saturnine moons (Prometheus, Pandora and Atlas), hundreds of new rings and a thick atmosphere on Titan.
In August 2012, Voyager entered interstellar space, making it the most distant human-made object in space. It carries a gold record that contains 115 analog images, greetings in 55 languages, 35 natural and man-made sounds and portions of 27 musical pieces.
Voyager 1 should operate until 2020 and send back data to Earth periodically.
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