This desktop model (1/10 scale) represents an early concept for the Voyager spacecraft and bears little resemblance to the final flown design. The Voyager program was conceived in the mid-1960's as a mission to explore the outer planets using Mariner-style spacecraft. Officially, the original objective to investigate all of the outer planets in a "grand tour" was scaled back to Jupiter and Saturn exclusively due to budgetary cut-backs.

Voyager 2 was launched on August 20, 1977, and placed on a slow flight path to Jupiter. Subsequently, Voyager 1 was launched on September 5, 1977, and arrived at Jupiter first in March 1979 and Saturn in November 1980. Because Saturn's moon, Titan, is the only other solar system object with a predominately nitrogen atmosphere, Voyager 1's trajectory was designed to pass within 2550 miles. This manuever caused the flight path to leave the ecliptic plane and out of the Solar System. Voyager 2 encounter Jupiter in July 1979 and Saturn in August 1981. Its slower flight path was designed to allow it to go on to Uranus in January 1986 and then to Neptune in August 1989 as the funding became available to continue the mission.

NASA transferred the model to the museum in 1978.