Pioneer 10 Pioneer 10 Pioneer 10 (originally designated Pioneer F) is an American space probe, launched in 1972 and weighing , that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. Thereafter, "Pioneer 10" became the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity that will allow them to leave the Solar System. This space exploration project was conducted by the NASA Ames Research Center in California, and the space probe was manufactured by TRW Inc. "Pioneer 10" was assembled around a hexagonal bus with a diameter parabolic dish high-gain antenna, and the spacecraft was spin stabilized around the axis of
Space probe Transport Network. First man-made object to soft land on the Moon, or any other extra terrestrial surface. First mission to photograph the far side of the Moon, launched in 1959. First robotic sample return probe from the Moon. First rover on Moon. It was sent to the Moon on November 10, 1970. First probe to Mercury. First successful in-place analysis of another planet. It may have also been the first space probe to impact the surface of another planet, although it is unclear whether it reached Venus' surface. The Venera 7 probe was the first spacecraft to successfully soft land