page_title: Pioneer program
section_title: Outer Solar System missions
hierarchical_section_title: Pioneer program / Later missions (1965–1978) / Outer Solar System missions
caption_attribution_description: English: NASA image of Pioneer 10's famed Pioneer plaque features a design engraved into a gold-anodized aluminum plate, 152 by 229 millimeters (6 by 9 inches), attached to the spacecraft's antenna support struts to help shield it from erosion by interstellar dust. Español: Imagen de la placa colocada en la sonda espacial Pioneer, creada por la NASA. Català: Imatge de la placa del Pionner 10, creada per la NASA. Magyar: Fotó a Pioneer-tábláról. A tábla egy grafikus üzeneteket tartalmazó, arannyal bevont alumínium lemez, melyet a NASA a Pioneer–10 űrszonda fedélzetén helyeztek el.
context_page_description: The Pioneer programs were two series of United States lunar and planetary space probes exploration. The first program, which ran from 1958 to 1960, unsuccessfully attempted to send spacecraft to orbit the Moon, successfully sent one spacecraft to fly by the Moon, and successfully sent one spacecraft to investigate interplanetary space between the orbits of Earth and Venus. The second program, which ran from 1965 to 1992, sent four spacecraft to measure interplanetary space weather, two to explore Jupiter and Saturn, and two to explore Venus. The two outer planet probes, Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System, and carried a golden plaque depicting a man and a woman and information about the origin and the creators of the probes, in case any extraterrestrials find them someday.
context_section_description: Pioneer 10 (Pioneer F) –  Jupiter, interstellar medium, launched March 1972
  Pioneer 11 (Pioneer G) –  Jupiter, Saturn, interstellar medium, launched April 1973
  Pioneer H  – identical to Pioneers 10 and 11.  Proposed out-of-ecliptic mission for 1974, never built.
caption: The Pioneer plaque attached to Pioneers 10 and 11
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