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 11 was launched April 5, 1973. The mission included flybys of Jupiter (periapsis December 2, 1974), and Saturn (periapsis September 1, 1979). Following the Saturn Encounter the spacecraft continued onward on a path towards the heliopause, and out of the Solar System. The science mission ended September 30, 1995. Lastcontact was made in November 1995.


Mission Phases
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LAUNCH
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Mission Phase Start Time : 1973-04-05 Mission Phase Stop Time : 1973-04-05 Spacecraft Operations Type : LAUNCH

EARTH-JUPITER CRUISE
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Mission Phase Start Time : 1973-04-05 Mission Phase Stop Time : 1974-11-03 Spacecraft Operations Type : CRUISE

JUPITER ENCOUNTER
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Mission Phase Start Time : 1974-11-03 Mission Phase Stop Time : 1975-01-01 Target Name : JUPITER Periapsis Time : 1974-12-02 Periapsis Range : 130,354 km Spacecraft Operations Type : FLYBY

JUPITER-SATURN CRUISE
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Mission Phase Start Time : 1975-01-01 Mission Phase Stop Time : 1997-03-31 Spacecraft Operations Type : CRUISE

SATURN ENCOUNTER
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Mission Phase Start Time : 1979-07-31 Mission Phase Stop Time : 1979-10-05 Target Name : SATURN Periapsis Time : 1979-09-01 Periapsis Range : 43,000 km Spacecraft Operations Type : FLYBY

POST-SATURN CRUISE
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Mission Phase Start Time : 1979-10-05 Mission Phase Stop Time : 1995-09-30 Spacecraft Operations Type : CRUISE