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The Science Steering Group (SSG) for the Mariner Jupiter Saturn 1977 (MJS77) project met at JPL in December 1972, shortly after their experiments were selected by NASA. The group included the Principal Investigators and Team Leaders for the various experiments, shown here with several others from the project and from NASA who attended that first meeting.

According to Project Scientist Ed Stone, this Science Steering Group became more than a group of individuals worrying only about their own experiments. They were concerned about "... optimizing the science return of the mission as a whole, as a team." The result of this teamwork is that the information returned to Earth over the past 25 years has revolutionized our view of the solar system.

MJS77, so named because it was to be a Mariner-class spacecraft going to Jupiter and Saturn, was renamed Voyager just a few months before the launch of the two identical spacecraft in August and September 1977.

For more information about the Voyager project, please contact the JPL Archives or see the Voyager Project web site.