Pioneer 6 to 9
Author(s): Jack Higgins DaveBowman2001
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Pioneer 6, 7, 8, and 9 were a series of interplanetary space probes launched between 1965 and 1969, which monitored various solar phenomena from widely separated points in space, much like the twin STEREO probes do today. Designed to last only six months, all the probes managed to operate for decades, with Pioneer 6 lasting until 2000-Dec-8, more than 35 years after its launch!
| Pioneer Program (1959-2003) |
||
|---|---|---|
| Mission | Start | End |
| Pioneer 6 | 1965-Dec-16 | 2000-Dec-8 |
| Presumably still active until 2007, although no contact was ever established since 2000 | ||
| Pioneer 7 | 1966-Aug-17 | 1995-Mar-31 |
| Flew past Halley's Comet at a distance of 12.3 million km on 1986-Mar-20 | ||
| Pioneer 8 | 1967-Dec-13 | 1996-Aug-22 |
| Presumably still active until 2015, although no contact was ever established since 1996 | ||
| Pioneer 9 | 1968-Nov-8 | 1983-May-19 |
| Contact attempt on 1987-Mar-3 failed, declared inactive | ||
| Pioneer E | 1969-Aug-27 | |
| Destroyed in a launch failure | ||
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