Shims for forward antenna, Pioneer 10 / 11, reconstructed full-scale mock-up
name: label: Manufacturer
content: TRW, Inc.
notes: label: Summary
content: For over 30 years, the Pioneer 10 spacecraft sent photographs and scientific information back to Earth. Launched March 2, 1972, it reached speeds of 52,100 kilometers (32,400 miles) per hour on its flight to Jupiter, making it one of the fastest human-made objects ever. After completing an investigation of Jupiter, Pioneer 10 continued on to the outer regions of the solar system, studying solar wind and cosmic rays.
label: Summary
content: Having gone further into space than any other object sent from Earth, Pioneer's last weak signal was received on January 22, 2003, from approximately 12.2 billion kilometers (7.6 billion miles) from Earth. NASA engineers reported that Pioneer 10's radioisotope power source had degraded and was not likely to allow future transmissions.
label: Summary
content: As it drifts into interstellar space, Pioneer 10 will continue to carry a plaque designed to inform intelligent life that may find it about the spacecraft and its origins. The prototype spacecraft displayed here was constructed for NASA by TRW, Inc.
label: Long Description
content: During the latter 1960s, G.A. Flandro, a JPL scientist, discovered that once every 176 years both the Earth and all the giant planets of the Solar System gather on one side of the Sun. This geometric line-up made possible close‑up observation of all the planets in the outer solar system (with the exception of Pluto) in a single flight, the "Grand Tour." The flyby of each planet would bend the spacecraft's flight path and increase its velocity enough to deliver it to the next destination. This would occur through a complicated process known as "gravity assist," something like a slingshot effect, whereby the flight time to Neptune could be reduced from 30 to 12 years. Such a configuration was due to occur in the late 1970s, and it led to one of the most significant space probe efforts undertaken by the U.S.
label: Long Description
content: To prepare the way for the "Grand Tour," NASA conceived Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11 as outer solar system probes. Both were small, nuclear‑powered, spin‑stabilized spacecraft that Atlas‑Centaur launched. The first of these was launched on 3 March 1972, and encountered Jupiter in early December 1973. On 22 January 2003, when Pioneer 10’s signal was last detected, the spacecraft had travelled 82 AU (7.6 billion miles) from Earth, more than twice the distance from the Sun to Pluto. In 1973, NASA launched Pioneer 11, providing scientists with their closest view of Jupiter, from 26,600 miles above the cloud tops in December 1974. The close approach accelerated the spacecraft's speed to 107,373 mph, by far the fastest ever reached by a an object from Earth, and hurled Pioneer 11 1.5‑billion miles across the Solar System toward Saturn.
label: Alternate Name
content: Pioneer 10/11
label: Key Accomplishment(s)
content: First Spacecraft to Travel Beyond Asteroid Belt, Fly By Jupiter and Saturn
label: Impact or Innovation
content: The first probes to cross the solar system’s outer reaches, Pioneer 10 and 11 excited people about deep space exploration.
label: Brief Description
content: The Pioneer spacecraft, launched in 1972 and 1973, were the first to traverse the asteroid belt and explore the region around the giant planet Jupiter. Pioneer 11 also explored Saturn. The two craft are headed out of the solar system toward other stars in the galaxy.
place: label: Country of Origin
content: United States of America
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Air and Space Museum Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Transferred from National Aeronautics and Space Administration
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Air and Space Museum
identifier: label: Inventory Number
content: A19770451001
objectType: label: Type
content: SPACECRAFT-Crewed-Special/Commemorative
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Materials
content: Aluminum
label: Dimensions
content: 3-D (L x W x H) (shims, 4): 3.2 × 1.6 (1 1/4 × 5/8)