Pioneer 10 and Pioneer 11, launched in 1972 and 1973, respectively, were the first spacecraft to visit the solar system's most photogenic gas giants, Jupiter and Saturn. Pioneer 10 was the first probe to travel through the solar system's asteroid belt, a field of orbiting rocks between Mars and Jupiter. Then about a year-and-a-half after its launch, the spacecraft made the first flyby of the planet Jupiter. It took stunning up-close photos of the Great Red Spot and the wide swaths of red that band the planet. About a year later, Pioneer 11 flew by Jupiter, and then moved on to Saturn, where it discovered a couple of previously unknown small moons around the planet, and a new ring. Both probes have stopped sending data, and are continuing out on their one-way voyages beyond the solar system.
Pioneer 0, 1, and 2 were the United States' first lunar attempts. These identical spacecraft, which all failed to meet their lunar objectives, were followed by Pioneer 3 and 4, which succeeded in becoming America's first successful lunar missions. Pioneer 5 provided the first maps of the interplanetary magnetic field. Pioneers 6,7,8, and 9 were the world's first solar monitoring network and provided warnings of increased solar activity which could affect Earth orbiting satellites and ground systems. The twin Pioneer 10 and 11 vehicles were the first spacecraft to ever visit Jupiter and Saturn. The craft performed a wide variety of scientific observations of the two planets and returned environmental data that was used during the design of the more sophisticated Voyager probes. The Pioneer Venus mission, consisting of the Pioneer Venus Orbiter (Pioneer 12) and Pioneer Venus Multiprobe (Pioneer 13), was the United States' first long-term mission to observe Venus and studied the structure and composition of the Venusian atmosphere. The mission also provided the first radar map of the planet's surface.
Below is the brief History of all PIONEER attempted to reach to space. | Name | Int'l Desig. | Date | Site | Vehicle | Orbit | Mass(kg) |
| Notes | ||||||
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| Pioneer 0 (Thor Able 1) | 8/17/58 | ESMC | Thor Able | FTO | 38 | |
| 1st stage malfunction; 1st US lunar attempt | ||||||
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| Pioneer 1 | 1958-[Eta]1 | 10/11/58 | ESMC | Thor Able | HEO | 38 |
| Set distance record; failed to reach moon | ||||||
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| Pioneer 2 | none | 11/8/58 | ESMC | Thor Able | FTO | 39 |
| 3rd stage ignition unsuccessful | ||||||
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| Pioneer 3 | 1958-[Theta]1 | 12/6/58 | ESMC | Juno 2 | HEO | 6 |
| Failed to reach moon; provided radiation data | ||||||
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| Pioneer 4 | 1959-[Nu]1 | 3/3/59 | ESMC | Juno 2 | Solar | 6 |
| Passed within 60000 km. of moon | ||||||
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| Pioneer 5 | 1960-[Alpha]1 | 3/11/60 | ESMC | Thor Able | Solar | 43 |
| Solar research | ||||||
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| Pioneer 6 | 1965-105A | 12/16/65 | ESMC | Delta E | Solar | 63 |
| Measured solar wind, Sun's magnetic field | ||||||
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| Pioneer 7 | 1966-075A | 8/17/66 | ESMC | Delta E | Solar | 63 |
| Monitored solar wind, cosmic rays | ||||||
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| Pioneer 8 | 1967-123A | 12/13/67 | ESMC | Delta E | Solar | 63 |
| Solar radiation data | ||||||
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| Pioneer 9 | 1968-100A | 11/8/68 | ESMC | Delta E | Solar | 63 |
| Solar radiation data | ||||||
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| Pioneer E | none | 8/27/69 | ESMC | Delta L | FTO | 67 |
| 1st stage hydraulics failure; destroyed by range safety | ||||||
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| Pioneer 10 | 1972-012A | 3/3/72 | ESMC | Atlas Centaur | SSET | 259 |
| Jupiter flyby 12/73; 1st man-made object to leave solar system. Operations were discontinued on 3/31/97 because of power limitations. Spacecraft continues its voyage into deep space. | ||||||
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| Pioneer 11 | 1973-019A | 4/6/73 | ESMC | Atlas Centaur | SSET | 259 |
| Jupiter flyby 12/74; Saturn flyby 9/1/79 | ||||||
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| Pioneer 12 | 1978-051A | 5/20/78 | ESMC | Atlas Centaur | Venus | 582 |
| Venus orbiter | ||||||
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| Pioneer 13 | 1978-078A | 8/8/78 | ESMC | Atlas Centaur | Venus | 904 |
| Dropped 4 probes in Venus atmosphere 12/9/78; burned up in atmosphere on same day | ||||||
