Mar 3 1997
From The Space Library
NASA commemorated the 25th anniversary of the still-orbiting Pioneer 10 space probe. Launched 2 March 1972, Pioneer 10 was the functioning probe farthest from Earth, at approximately 6 billion miles (9.6 billion kilometers) away. NASA originally had intended the probe to orbit for 21 months, but the spacecraft had continued to perform remarkably well and efficiently long after its designated mission. The probe completed its planned objective of surveying Jupiter in 1972; after that, NASA launched Pioneer 10 into space at 86,000 miles (13 8,000 kilometers) per hour. Since then, scientists had tracked the probe, learning more about magnetic fields, solar wind, cosmic particles, and ultraviolet glow. In June 1983, Pioneer 10 became the first human-made object to leave the solar system. On the day marking Pioneer 10's 25th year in space, the probe still broadcast "crystal-clear data" to the NASA control room on Earth. NASA did not plan a 26th anniversary for the probe, explaining that Pioneer 10's pulse was finally growing so weak that it could no longer facilitate significant scientific experiments.
Design News honored as its Engineer of the Year, Bernard P. Dagarin, the key design engineer behind the Galileo space probe, which had successfully navigated Jupiter's atmosphere in 1996. Dagarin had begun working on prototypes for the Jupiter probe in 1978, when NASA awarded Hughes Space and Communications Company the initial Galileo contract. According to Design News, "Never before had a spacecraft been asked to survive such a long and difficult mission." Galileo had achieved the near impossible. Not only was Galileo's Jupiter mission a complete success, achieving the desired data, but the mission had also become the capstone of Dagarin's decorated career.
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