The 47-year-old NASA Voyager 1 fell back on a radio transmitter it hadn’t used since 1981 to ping home base after a technical issue caused a days-long communication stall between Earth and the farthest-ever recorded spacecraft.

The Voyager 1 spacecraft went quiet in interstellar space. Then NASA it communicating on a radio transmitter it hadn't used for over 40 years.

Nasa scientists are celebrating as, after a period of silence, the craft recently called home again using a bit of kit that it hasn't used for more than forty years.