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Pioneer 11 (also known as Pioneer G) is a NASA robotic space probe launched on April 5, 1973, to study the asteroid belt, the environment around Jupiter and Saturn, the solar wind, and cosmic rays. [2]
NASA's Pioneer 11, a sister spacecraft to Pioneer 10, was the first spacecraft to study Saturn up close. The mission ended in 1995 and Pioneer 11 is on a trajectory to take it out of the solar system.
The Pioneer 11 spacecraft revealed the gas giants in unprecedented detail. It carries a golden plaque of greetings, and stymied scientists with the "Pioneer Anomaly."
After Pioneer 10 successfully completed its observations of Jupiter, mission planners retargeted Pioneer 11 to use the giant planet’s gravity to slingshot the spacecraft across the solar system to explore Saturn.
Pioneer 11 began its observations of Jupiter in November and made its closest approach to the giant planet’s cloud tops on December 2 at a distance of only 26,612 miles and a speed of 107,400 miles per hour.
After Pioneer 10 successfully completed its observations of Jupiter, in May 1974 mission planners retargeted Pioneer 11 to use the giant planet’s gravity to slingshot the spacecraft to encounter Saturn.
Pioneer 11 was the second mission to investigate Jupiter and the outer solar system and the first to explore the planet Saturn and its main rings. Pioneer 11, like Pioneer 10, used Jupiter's gravitational field to alter its trajectory radically.
NASA’s Pioneer 10 mission launched on March 2, 1972, followed by Pioneer 11 on April 5, 1973. Pioneer 10 is credited with being the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt and fly by Jupiter.
Pioneer 11 was a backup spacecraft launched on April 5, 1973, after Pioneer 10 cleared the asteroid belt. The new mission provided a second close look at Jupiter, the first close-up views of Saturn, and also gave Voyager engineers plotting an epic multi-planet tour of the outer planets a chance to practice the art of interplanetary navigation.
Forty years ago, on April 5, 1973, a small, ambitious spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral, heading towards the third-brightest point of light in the night sky. Following in the footsteps of its sister craft, Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11 was intended as a backup for the dangerous mission.