Pioneer 10 was a NASA probe that became the first spacecraft to cross the asteroid belt and the first to fly past Jupiter, obtaining close-up pictures and measurements of its radiation belts and magnetic field. It was launched on an Atlas-Centaur rocket from Cape Canaveral, and after its encounter with Jupiter its path took it out of the Solar System. Mounted on the craft is a plaque, designed by Carl Sagan and Frank Drake, depicting a man and a woman and the location of Earth, intended for any extraterrestrial finder. Contact with it was lost in 2003, and it continues to travel in the direction of the star Aldebaran.
Before and after
- 1972The Varna gold treasure is found
- 30 January 1972Bloody Sunday
- 1 February 1972Birth of Leymah Roberta Gbowee
- 29 February 1972Birth of Pedro Sánchez
- 3 March 1972Launch of Pioneer 10
- 15 March 1972Release of The Godfather
- 27 March 1972Launch of Venera 8
- 16 April 1972Launch of Apollo 16
- 16 April 1972Death of Yasunari Kawabata
More in Universe & space
- 4 October 1957Launch of Sputnik 1
- 22 October 1969Discovery of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko
- 14 September 1974Discovery of Leda
- 28 July 1989Discovery of Galatea
- 15 May 2005Discovery of Hydra
- 19 January 2006Launch of New Horizons
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.