Pioneer 10:
Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to travel through the asteroid belt and reach the outer solar system, flying past Jupiter at a distance of about 130,354 km (81,000 miles) from the cloudtops. [See current missions to Jupiter.] During its Jupiter encounter, Pioneer 10 imaged the planet and its moons, and took measurements of Jupiter's magnetosphere, radiation belts, magnetic field, atmosphere, and interior. These measurements of the intense radiation environment near Jupiter were crucial in designing the Voyager and Galileo spacecraft.

Also, as the first spacecraft to use a planetary gravity assist to change its velocity, Pioneer 10 then headed out of the solar system in the direction opposite to the Sun's motion through the Milky Way galaxy. Except for Voyager 1, which is travelling in the opposite direction, Pioneer 10 is farther from Earth than any other human artifact. Even so, it will take another 2 million years for Pioneer 10 to reach the first star on its trajectory. Pioneer 10 carries a plaque intended to communicate something about its home planet should the spacecraft ever meet up with another intelligent species. Routine tracking of Pioneer 10 ended in 1997, but the spacecraft continued to send out signals until January 2003.

Visit the Pioneer 10 Website

05.02.72:  Launch 06.13.83:  Passed Orbit of Most Distant Planet 03.31.97:  End of Extrasolar Mission Status:  Mission Complete Show All Dates for Pioneer 10		02.25.03:  Farewell Pioneer 10 02.20.03:  Pioneer 10 Contacted 12.17.02:  Pioneer 10 Contacted 07.23.02:  Pioneer 10 Contacted More Headlines
Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to fly through the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to fly past Jupiter. In 1983, Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to leave our solar system. Until its maximum distance from Earth was exceeded in 1998, Pioneer 10 was the most distant human-made object. It will take more than 2 million years for Pioneer 10 to pass Aldebaran, the nearest star on its trajectory.		Solar System Bodies: Jupiter Pioneer 10 Multimedia Gallery Pioneer Project Home Page (NASA Ames Research Center) [Archived March 2007] Pioneer 10 and 11 Mission Status (NASA Ames Research Center) [Archived March 2007] Pioneer 10 (National Space Science Data Center Master Catalog) Pioneer Odyssey by Richard Fimmel, William Swindell, and Eric Burgess Image of the Pioneer Plaque Pioneer 10 & 11 Image Archive Pioneer Web Site Archives More Links