Pioneer 10

Uncommon card · No. 92450

Pioneer 10 (originally designated Pioneer F) is a NASA space probe launched in 1972 that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. It was the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt and the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System. The mission was managed by NASA Ames Research Center in California, and the spacecraft was built by TRW Inc. The spacecraft was built around a hexagonal satellite bus with a 2.74 m (9.0 ft) diameter parabolic high-gain antenna and was spin-stabilized about the antenna axis. Electrical power was supplied by four radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), which produced a combined 155 watts at launch. Pioneer 10 was launched on March 3, 1972, at 01:49:00 UTC (March 2 local time), aboard an Atlas-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36A. It passed through the asteroid belt from July 15, 1972 to February 15, 1973, becoming the first spacecraft to do so. Imaging of Jupiter began...

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