Voyager 1 thrusters, silent since 2004, revived by NASA just before a months-long antenna blackout, stunning engineers who’d given up hope. With 29 billion miles traveled since its 1977 launch, the probe dodges interstellar oblivion—its resurrection feels almost like sci-fi.

Two decades of cosmic quiet ends when backup hardware, called fully defunct, jolts the spacecraft awake. NASA’s miracle save keeps the farthest human-made object from drifting speechless, as deep space missions hinge on antenna upgrades and some truly lucky timing—like a cosmic Lazarus act.