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That alignment is only necessary to do the Grand Tour, to visit all four outer planets in one mission. Voyager 1 actually didn't do the Grand Tour, it only visited Jupiter and Saturn, you're thinking of Voyager 2. This alignment is also not even necessary to attain the highest speed, Voyager 1 is even faster than Voyager 2.

A flyby of both Jupiter and Saturn can be done every two decades or so (the synodic period is 19.6 years)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour_program



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