21 years ago today,
Pioneer 10 crossed the orbit of Neptune (then the farthest planet from the sun) and so became the first spacecraft to leave our solar system. 11 years before,
Pioneer 10 was the first probe to travel to an outer planet (Jupiter) and send back images and other science data. Pioneer 10's last signal was heard on the 23rd of January 2003 - that's almost 31 years of service - it was
launched in March 1972 (2 years before I was born Voyager 1 and 2 are still out there, and communicating... Voyager 1 passed Pioneer 10 (in terms of distance) on February 17, 1998 and is now "the most distant human-made object in the universe" at 13.5 billion kilometers (90 AU - or 90 x the distance from Earth to the Sun) away.
; "hannah grace mcphail")
; "Beach Run")
; "hannah grace mcphail")
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; "proudly South African")
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