NASA · flyby contact lost
Pioneer 11
Pioneer 11 was the first spacecraft to visit Saturn, after a close pass of Jupiter, and is now coasting out of the Solar System.
- Launch
- 6 April 1973
- Last contact
- 30 September 1995
- Distance from Earth today
- 17.74 billion km118.6 AU · light: 16 h 26 min
- Distance from the Sun today
- 17.68 billion km118.2 AU
Live distance from Earth and chart →
Trajectory
Trajectory: JPL Horizons vectors (spacecraft -24) every 20 days, projected onto the ecliptic; compressed distance scale.
About the mission
Pioneer 11 followed its twin toward Jupiter, but flew much closer, skimming about 43,000 km above the cloud tops in December 1974. Jupiter's gravity then bent its path across the Solar System to Saturn, which it reached in September 1979 as the first visitor, scouting the route later used by the Voyagers. Its nuclear power supply weakened over the years, and science operations stopped in September 1995. The spacecraft is now silent, heading out of the Solar System in the opposite direction to Pioneer 10.