Pioneer 10 becomes the first spacecraft to reach Jupiter
The first probe through the asteroid belt, and eventually the first human object to leave the solar system
Quick facts
- Agency
- NASA
- Launch date
- 2 March 1972
- Jupiter flyby
- 3 December 1973, 82,178 mi
- Left solar system
- 13 June 1983
What happened
Pioneer 10 launched on 2 March 1972 and became the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt, entering it on 15 July 1972 and emerging unscathed on 15 February 1973. On 3 December 1973, it flew past Jupiter at a distance of 82,178 miles, traveling at roughly 78,000 miles per hour, the first close encounter any spacecraft had with the solar system's largest planet. Pioneer 10 carried a gold anodized plaque designed by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake, showing a man and woman and the Sun's position relative to nearby pulsars, intended as a message in case the spacecraft were ever found by another civilization after leaving the solar system. On 13 June 1983, Pioneer 10 passed the orbit of Neptune and became the first human-made object to leave the solar system entirely.
Why it matters
Pioneer 10 proved that a spacecraft could survive passage through the asteroid belt, a genuine engineering concern at the time, and that data could be returned from as far away as Jupiter, opening the outer solar system to the more ambitious Voyager missions that followed later in the same decade.
How we know
NASA's history office retrospective on Pioneer 10 documents the launch date, asteroid belt transit, and Jupiter flyby distance from mission telemetry, and separately confirms the spacecraft's later departure from the solar system in 1983.
Sources
- NASA History Office. 45 Years Ago, Pioneer 10 First to Explore Jupiter · Primary source (author-declared)nasa.gov · Cited as a "primary" source (no stronger domain match). · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. To Jupiter and Beyond: Pioneer 10 and 11 · Reputable sourceairandspace.si.edu · The domain "airandspace.si.edu" is on our Reputable source registry. · Link is live and its text matches the event's key terms (Jul 2026)
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