How a NASA scientist blew our minds

On a visit to The Colbert Report in 2013, the eponymous host asked NASA scientist Ed Stone if he was ever annoyed that the agency’s astronauts got all the parades and fanfare while researchers toiled behind the scenes.

“No,” Stone replied, “we’re having too much fun.”

Indeed, Stone served as chief scientist for the space agency’s Voyager mission, which sent two spacecraft on humanity’s longest, farthest, and still ongoing exploration effort, to half a century, from 1972 to 2022. This mission blasted stunning, never-before-seen views of our solar system. It was also the first mission to fly by all four mysterious outer planets, the first to discover multiple moons around each of these planets, the first to find active volcanoes on another world, and much more. Eventually, the two Voyager spacecraft became the first to leave our cosmic neighborhood, entering the interstellar realm.

The legendary researcher died at the age of 88 on June 9, 2024. But his inspired vision, for both scientists and children looking up from our place at the Milky Way galaxy, is immortal.

“He will forever be an inspiration to all who #DareMightyThings,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which runs the interstellar mission, wrote online.

Stone realized that Voyager’s discoveries needed to reach millions beyond the gates of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, rather than sitting in a room while scientists slowly analyzed the findings. The space agency would receive new images in the afternoon, either from Jupiter or Neptune, and Voyager’s science team would discuss and quickly select the best discoveries to present to a curious public.

“Dr. Stone, you’re my hero too.”

“The scientists would then refine their presentations that evening and even into the night—with Stone often pushing them to come up with analogies that would make the material more accessible to a lay audience—while a graphics team worked on merged supporting images,” NASA explained. in a statement.

This was life changing.

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A view of Neptune from Voyager 2, taken in 1989. Strong streaks of wind are seen swirling through the atmosphere.
Credit: NASA

“RIP Ed Stone, longtime leader of the Voyager mission. I learned so much from him during the Neptune encounter: how to maximize science and how to share science with the world,” Heidi B. Hammel, a NASA planetary astronomer and award-winning science communicator, wrote on the website X (formerly Twitter). Hammel, who helped Voyager 2 capture the first views of Neptune in 1989, now researches the origins of life as a principal scientist on NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope mission.

Hiro Ono, now a NASA roboticist, shared online that Voyager 2’s trip beyond Neptune sparked his deep interest in exploring the cosmos. “I was 6 years old when Voyager 2 collided with Neptune,” Hiro emailed Stone in 2018. “Since then, my dream has been to build a spacecraft like Voyager. 24 years later, I proudly joined JPL. Now I’m working on the Mars 2020 Rover and Europa Lander every day is so exciting.

“Voyager 2 is my hero who showed me the way,” added Ono. “Dr. Stone, you are my hero too. Thank you so much.”

Stone, a busy project scientist leading the agency’s confirmation that Voyager 2 had made the big leap into interstellar space, took the time to respond:

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Ed Stone speaking to the media during the historic Uranus flyby in 1986.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech

A year after the trip to Neptune, the Voyager team made plans to capture an unprecedented “family portrait” of the planets, including Earth, at a time when Voyager was about 4 billion miles away. “This is not only the first time, but perhaps the only time for decades that we will be able to take a picture of planets outside the solar system,” Stone said at the time.

A family portrait of the planets taken by Voyager 1, looking back at our solar system, in 1990. Earth is the middle point in the top row.
Credit: NASA

Today, Voyager 1 is over 15 billion miles away, and Voyager 2 over 12 billion miles away. They will eventually run out of nuclear power — perhaps in the mid-2030s — but the mission will continue as “our silent ambassador” to space, Stone told Colbert. Both Voyagers carry a protected 12-inch record, containing various sounds and images of Earth.

Whether anyone listens or not, the mission led by Stone will have a long-lasting legacy, far beyond our solar system.

“These two spacecraft will now be in orbit around the center of our galaxy for billions of years,” he said.