Mission Overview
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The Pioneer mission set the stage for U.S. space exploration.
Pioneer 1 was the first manmade object to escape the Earth's
gravitational field. Later Pioneer 4 was the first spacecraft to fly
to the moon, Pioneer 10 was the first to Jupiter, Pioneer 11 was the
first to Saturn and Pioneer 12 was the first U.S. spacecraft to
orbit another planet, Venus. The following table summarizes the
Pioneer spacecraft and scientific objectives of the Pioneer mission.

Name Launch Mission Status (as of 1998)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Pioneer 1 1958-10-11 Moon Reached altitude of 72765 miles
Pioneer 2 1958-11-08 Moon Reached altitude of 963 miles
Pioneer 3 1958-12-02 Moon Reached altitude of 63580 miles
Pioneer 4 1959-03-03 Moon Passed by moon into solar orbit
Pioneer 5 1960-03-11 Solar Orbit Entered solar orbit
Pioneer 6 1965-12-16 Solar Orbit Still operating
Pioneer 7 1966-08-17 Solar Orbit Still operating
Pioneer 8 1967-12-13 Solar Orbit Still operating
Pioneer 9 1967-11-08 Solar Orbit Signal lost in 1983
Pioneer E 1969-08-07 Solar Orbit Launch failure
Pioneer10 1972-03-02 Jupiter Communication terminated 1998
Pioneer11 1973-04-05 Jupiter/Saturn Communication terminated 1997
Pioneer12 1978-05-20 Venus Entered Venus atmos. 1992-10-08

Pioneer 10 was launched March 2, 1972. It flew by Jupiter, with
perijove occuring December 3, 1973. Following the Jupiter Encounter
the spacecraft continued onward on a path towards the heliopause,
and out of the Solar System. The spacecraft continued returning
scientific data until the end of its science mission March 31, 1997.
Last contact was made January 23, 2003.


Mission Phases
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EARTH LAUNCH
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Mission Phase Start Time : 1972-03-02
Mission Phase Stop Time : 1972-03-02
Spacecraft Operations Type : LAUNCH


EARTH-JUPITER CRUISE
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Mission Phase Start Time : 1972-03-02
Mission Phase Stop Time : 1973-11-26
Spacecraft Operations Type : CRUISE


JUPITER ENCOUNTER
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Target Name : JUPITER
Mission Phase Start Time : 1973-11-26
Mission Phase Stop Time : 1974-01-01
Spacecraft Operations Type : FLYBY


POST-JUPITER CRUISE
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Mission Phase Start Time : 1974-01-01
Mission Phase Stop Time : 1997-03-31
Spacecraft Operations Type : CRUISE