Spacecraft
Pioneer 11
The first spacecraft to reach Saturn, in 1979, having used Jupiter to get there - and it flew through the ring plane first to prove the path was safe for the Voyagers behind it. Its last signal was received in 1995; it is still coasting outward, no longer able to answer, and its track here is where it has drifted since.
- Agency
- NASA
- Launched
- 1973-04-06 - 1995-09-30
Path
An open path out, unpowered and unheard since 1995. Nothing steers it and nothing measures it any more; where it is drawn is where the mechanics say it has drifted to.
Along the way
- Closest to Jupiter, and the swing that aimed it at Saturn
- First to reach Saturn, through the ring plane to prove it safe
- Last contact, two months after routine tracking had ended
Everything the map shows is worked out in your browser from published orbital data - nothing on it is a stored picture of where things were.