The Explorers' Club, № CMXCVI

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Pioneer 10, Part II
3 December 1973: Pioneer 10 made its closest approach to Jupiter, to within 82,000 miles of the planet; the probe imaged the Great Red Spot & all four of the Galilean moons, winning an Emmy for the real-time broadcast back to Earth; the intense radiation within the Jovian system generated false computer commands; the slingshot effect of Jupiter's gravity flung Pioneer 10 out of the solar system.

Commentary: Contact was maintained with Pioneer 10, as it passed beyond the orbits of Uranus, Neptune, & Pluto & headed out into interstellar space, until 23 January 2003, almost forty-one years after the probe's March 1972 launch.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № CMXLII

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Pioneer 11, Part I
6 April 1973: Pioneer 11 (pre-launch: Pioneer G) lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket, bound for flybys of both Jupiter & Saturn; the nuclear battery-powered probe carried photographic cameras, magnometers, & other instruments to study the asteroid belt, the solar wind, & the radiation environment, &, like Pioneer 10, a pictographic plaque.

Semper exploro.

The Explorers' Club, № DCCCLXIX

Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 50th Anniversary of Pioneer 10, Part I
2 March 1972: Pioneer 10 lifted off from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop an Atlas-Centaur rocket, bound for Jupiter; the nuclear battery-powered probe carried photographic cameras, magnometers, & other instruments to study the asteroid belt, the solar wind, & the Jovian system's radiation environment; S.E.T.I. enthusiasts advocated for the attachment of a pictographic plaque.

Semper exploro.