# Pioneer 11

*Spacecraft*

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 |
| From the Sun | 17,621,340,963 km (+955,496 km/d) |
| From the Earth | 17,544,805,309 km (+3,101,106 km/d) |
| A signal takes | 16 h 15 m |
| Travelling at | 11.1 km/s |

Distances and speed are computed from JPL Horizons trajectories and are true of 2026-09-05, changing at the rate given beside each. The interpolation itself is good to a few kilometres; what ages these figures is the date, not the arithmetic.

## 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

- 1974-12-02 — Closest to Jupiter, and the swing that aimed it at Saturn
- 1979-09-01 — First to reach Saturn, through the ring plane to prove it safe
- 1995-11-24 — Last contact, two months after routine tracking had ended

## Elsewhere

- On the live map: https://www.orbitalmap.space/?world=solar-system&focus=pioneer-11
- The mission's own page: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-11/
- This object as a page: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/pioneer-11/
- Every object: https://www.orbitalmap.space/o/
- What this site is and what it reads: https://www.orbitalmap.space/llms.txt