On what date was Voyager 2 launched?

Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, from Cape Canaveral, Florida.

NASA sent the spacecraft into space aboard a Titan IIIE-Centaur launch vehicle from Space Launch Complex 41. Its launch came 16 days before Voyager 1's liftoff on September 5, 1977. Although Voyager 2 departed first, its trajectory was longer and more circular.

The launch date is important because the two probes were designed around a rare arrangement of the outer planets. Voyager 2's path allowed it to use gravity assists at Jupiter and Saturn before continuing to Uranus and Neptune, producing the first close-up studies of both ice giants.

The date is often confused with later milestones: Voyager 1 launched on September 5, 1977; Voyager 2 reached Jupiter in 1979, Uranus in 1986, and Neptune in 1989. Launching first did not mean arriving at every early destination first.