Exploration of Jupiter and Saturn
Exploration of
Jupiter and Saturn
The Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecrafts made by the United States, launched in 1972 and
1973, safely went through the uninvestigated asteroid belt outside the orbit of Mars and
passed by Jupiter in both December 1973 and December 1974. The two 570-lb (258-kg)
spacecraft went by the planet at a span of 81,000 mi (130,400 km) and 29,000 mi (46,700
km ), and Pioneer 10 kept going on its way away from of the solar system, the very first
spacecraft to ever go into interstellar space; it is foreseen to come upon its first star in
around 80,000 years. In September 1979, Pioneer 11 passed by Saturn, plotting the way
for the Voyager 1 and 2 space missions.
Launched in 1977, the wonderfully successful Voyager 1 and 2 in March and July 1979
came across the Jovian system and calculated an assortment of photographs and
measurements. Voyager in November 1980 and August of 1981 then passed by the
Saturnian system.
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