Can You Hear Me Now? Good.

Call it the little space probe that could, designed to last just five years. Twenty-six years later, still ticking.

"This little engine that could was not designed for this kind of lifetime," said Louis Lanzerotti.  He's a Bell Labs expert on solar wind who has been involved with the Voyager program since 1972. "It's absolutely remarkable."

Along with its sister ship, Voyager II, Voyager I has been on an incredible journey, now more than 90 AU (astronomical units -- the distance between the Earth and Sun) away now, it continues to function. It passed the outer reaches of the heliosphere, the area of space directly influenced by our sun. Yet it continues to faithfully send data.

"We do have enough electrical power, if nothing breaks on the spacecraft, we can continue till 2020," said Edward Stone. He's a Voyager scientist at the California Institute of Technology. a Voyager project scientists based at the California Institute of Technology, said at a briefing at NASA headquarters.

Some scientists believe the probe has entered interstellar space, a place beyond the solar winds. Others say that crossing won't take place until 2020 or thereabouts. Voyager carries a solid gold record offering greetings from all of mankind in its various languages, just in case a passing stranger wanders by.

After leaving the solar neighborhood, both Voyager spacecraft veered away from the plane in which all planets reside. Voyager I went "up," while Voyager II went "down."

FMI: www.jpl.nasa.gov