August 31, 2009 - Pioneering Spirit

Published in cooperation with The Planetary Society

Spend the year in space, one week at a time

Recent Weeks

January 30, 2012 - Lunar Orbiter Liftoff

January 23, 2012 - Magellan Turns up the Stereo

January 16, 2012 - Southern Sibling Sees Stars

January 9, 2012 - Hitching a Ride Home

January 2, 2012 - Transforming the Space Frontier

December 26, 2011 - These Laws Can't Be Broken

December 19, 2011 - Long and Winding Road

December 12, 2011 - Blast from the Past

December 5, 2011 - It’s Just Like Folding a Map

November 28, 2011 - A Warmer, Wetter Mars

November 21, 2011 - Spy in the Sky

November 14, 2011 - The Dark Side of Nebulosity

November 7, 2011 - End of an Era

October 31, 2011 - Final Service Call

October 24, 2011 - STEREO Transit

October 17, 2011 - Observatory Mashup

October 10, 2011 - Brewing up a New Moon

October 3, 2011 - Special Delivery

September 26, 2011 - Tadpoles in Space

September 19, 2011 - International Sunrise

September 12, 2011 - Twins over India

September 5, 2011 - Belly of the Beast

August 29, 2011 - High Resolution

August 22, 2011 - Playing Host

August 15, 2011 - Royal Astronomer

August 8, 2011 - New Life for Leonardo

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The Week in Space

August 31 - September 6, 2009

Pioneering Spirit Launched in 1973, Pioneer 11 was the second spacecraft to fly past Jupiter and the first to explore Saturn. Pioneer 11’s hairpin turn around Jupiter in 1974 hurled the spacecraft back over the Sun to the opposite side of the solar system on a five-year journey to Saturn, where it arrived thirty years ago this week. Pioneer 11 made a number of discoveries at Saturn, including the thin F ring and a new satellite. The spacecraft also made the first direct readings of Saturn’s magnetic field and took the first closeup images of its largest moon, Titan. Pioneer 11 then proved that a spacecraft could cross the plane of Saturn’s rings without harm—important news for future spacecraft that would explore Saturn, such as Cassini, which took this stunning view of the “dark” side of Saturn in September 2006.

Image credit: NASA / JPL / Space Science Institute