Friday, October 30, 2026

1973-04-06 · 53 years ago

Pioneer 11 — launch

Date in UTC

Pioneer 11 (originally designated Pioneer G) is a NASA space probe launched in 1973 that completed the first mission to the planet Saturn. It was the first spacecraft to encounter Saturn, the second to fly through the asteroid belt, and the second to fly past Jupiter. It later became the fourth human-made object to pass beyond the orbits of the planets and the second of five artificial objects to reach the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System. NASA Ames Research Center in California managed the mission, and TRW Inc. built the spacecraft. The spacecraft was built around a hexagonal satellite bus and used four radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) to supply electrical power, producing a combined 155 watts at launch.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_11. Related NASA reference: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-11/. Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

Category
Launches and Flight Tests
Type
Orbital launch
Subjects
Space transportation
Mission
Pioneer 11
Organization
NASA Lewis Research Center
Vehicle
Atlas SLV-3D Centaur
Location
Cape Canaveral Air Station, Florida
Country
US
Outcome
Successful

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