The Centaur and Titan vehicles separate 8 minutes into the flight, and the Centaur main engine begins its burn. The Centaur is nearly 20 meters tall and 3 meters in diameter, with a mass of 17 tons. The motors have a thrust of almost 200 000 newtons, operating on the most powerful chemical fuels known: liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The Centaur burns for only 1 minute and 36 seconds as it attains Earth parking orbit; the engine then shuts down as the vehicle begins a half-hour coasting period that carries it nearly half way around the Earth. During this time, careful tracking of the spacecraft supplies the data needed for Earth-based computers to calculate the proper time to leave parking orbit and start the long trip toward Jupiter. About 50 minutes after liftoff, from a position high above the Indian Ocean, the second burn of the Centaur main engine begins. Six minutes of additional thrust provides enough energy to break out of Earth’s orbit. The Voyager then separates from the Centaur for a final boost toward Jupiter. The solid rocket motor in the spacecraft propulsion module (acting as final stage of this five-stage launch sequence) fires for 45 seconds at a thrust of 68 000 newtons. Just an hour after liftoff, the Voyager spacecraft is on its way, coasting on an orbit toward Jupiter at a speed of more than 10 kilometers per second. [Illustration: The Voyager spacecraft is dominated by the large 3.7-meter-diameter antenna used for communication with Earth. Here the spacecraft undergoes final tests before launch. The science instrument scan platform is folded against the spacecraft on the right; the three cylinders on the left are the RTG power sources. [260-108BC]] [Illustration: Voyager 2 was the first of the spacecraft to be launched, on August 20, 1977, propelled into space in a Titan/Centaur rocket. [P-19450AC]] The First Year Is the Roughest During the autumn of 1977 Voyager 2, and to a lesser extent Voyager 1, continued to plague controllers with erratic actions. Thrusters fired at inappropriate times, data modes shifted, instrument filter and analyzer wheels became stuck, and the various computer control systems occasionally overrode ground commands. Apparently, the spacecraft hardware was working properly, but the computers on board displayed certain traits that seemed almost humanly perverse—and perhaps a little psychotic. In general, these reactions were the result of programming too much sensitivity into the spacecraft systems, resulting in panic over-reaction by the onboard computers to minor fluctuations in the environment. Ultimately, part of the programming had to be rewritten on Earth and then transmitted to the Voyagers, to calm them down so that they would ignore minor perturbations, yet still be ready to perform automatic sequences required to protect the spacecraft from major threats. Meanwhile, however, more serious problems were developing.