Pioneer 6
Pioneer 6 — the first of a spin-stabilised quartet placed in solar orbit to watch the solar wind, magnetic field and cosmic rays from widely separated points (launched 16 December 1965). It became one of the longest-lived spacecraft ever: controllers made contact on its 35th anniversary in December 2000.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- NASA
- Launched
- December 16, 1965
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.997 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 2,343,452 km
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.29 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Pioneer 6 began one of the longest-running experiments in the history of spaceflight. Launched on 16 December 1965 into orbit around the Sun, it was the first of a small fleet of spin-stabilised probes designed to sit in interplanetary space and watch the solar wind, magnetic field and cosmic rays continuously, from vantage points spread around the Sun. Together they formed the world's first space-weather network, giving early warning of solar storms and mapping how the Sun's outbursts sweep through the solar system. Pioneer 6 proved astonishingly durable: built for a six-month mission, it kept working for decades, and in December 2000 — thirty-five years after launch — controllers made contact with it one last time to mark its anniversary, briefly hearing from one of the oldest working spacecraft ever built before it fell silent for good.
- 1965First of the solar-weather networkLaunch
The first of four spin-stabilised probes placed in solar orbit to monitor the solar wind.
- 2000Final contact on its 35th anniversaryMission end
Controllers reach it one last time 35 years after launch — among the oldest working spacecraft ever.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image