Pioneer 11:
Overview
Pioneer 11 was the second spacecraft (following
Pioneer 10) to visit the outer solar system and
the first spacecraft to visit
Saturn.
Borrowing momentum from
Jupiter during its flyby, Pioneer 11 was hurled above the ecliptic (the plane in which most of the
planets orbit the
Sun) on a trajectory that brough it about 22,000 km (13,000 miles) from Saturn. It took close-up pictures and discovered an additional
ring.
Visit the Pioneer 11 Website
Both Pioneer 10 and 11 carried a plaque describing the spacecraft, human beings and the location of our solar system.
