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 thePioneer 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 returningscientific 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