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Remembering Pioneer 10

Posted by michael on from the where-no-man-has-gone-before dept.

Daniel Goldman writes "Twenty one years ago today, Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to leave our solar system, by crossing the orbit of Neptune (which was then the farthest planet from the Sun). Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to enter the asteroid belt, the ring of giant rocks beyond Mars. It survived and zoomed on to Jupiter in late 1973, where it became the first spacecraft to take close-up photographs of the storms on the giant planet's surface. After Jupiter, it kept going, collecting data on the particles and radiation it encountered. More info about Pioneer 10 at Wikipedia."

4 of 242 comments (clear)

  1. another first post by MOMOCROME · · Score: -1, Troll

    i rock.

  2. Re:Engineering at its finest by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Yes, NASA's best days are behind it. Once the politicians took over NASA that was the end of great engineering. Today at NASA it is more important to hire an engineer based upon the color of his skin rather than his engineering abilities. The best get passed over so that the honchos can boost their careers by filling quota checklists.

  3. Re:Long Live Pioneer 10 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Jesus fucking christ! Where do you fucking cretins learn to spell!?

  4. Where's the credit to the US? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Troll

    Where is the credit given in the Wikipedia entry for the United States? I'm a little tired of the US being (rightly) criticized for what it does wrong, but then no credit given for what it does right. The US happens to be a great nation - perhaps the greatest ever - and its successes should be recognized.