This page no longer updated from 31 October 2001. 94 x 436 pixels. Cape Canaveral . Saturn flyby September 1979.
Solar system escape trajectory.
Saturn and its main rings. Pioneer 11, like Pioneer 10, used Jupiter's gravitational field to alter its trajectory radically. It passed close to Saturn and then it followed an escape trajectory from the solar system. The spacecraft has operated on a backup transmitter since launch. Instrument power sharing began in February 1985 due to declining RTG power output.