Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 now holds that distinction at 17.5 billion km from the Sun. This graphic shows the position of Voyager 1 relative to the outer solar system (top and side views) along with other distant spacecraft contenders. All these spacecraft have used sling-shot style gravity assist maneuvers to increase their speeds through the outer solar system. Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech What is humanity's most distant spacecraft?