In 40,000 years, long after its mission is over, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft will have a close encounter with Gliese 445. It won't be the probe's last. The rest of this article is behind a paywall. Please sign in or subscribe to access the full content.

The Voyager probes were launched in 1977 and have been traveling ever since. At the moment, Voyager 1 is around 168 AU from the Earth, having become the first spacecraft to go beyond the heliosphere, cross the heliopause , and enter interstellar space. At its current position, it takes 23 hours, 19 minutes, and 9 seconds for signals from Earth to reach the spacecraft. At its current speed of about 61,195 kilometers per hour (38,025 miles per hour), it will still take over a year to widen that light-distance to a full 24 hours. At that

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