Launch of Pioneer 10

Date: March 2, 1972 • Location: Cape Canaveral, United States

The Pioneer 10 space probe is launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida with a mission to explore the outer planets.

Pioneer 10 is a NASA space probe launched in 1972 that completed the first mission to the planet Jupiter. It was the first spacecraft to traverse the asteroid belt and the first of five artificial objects to achieve the escape velocity needed to leave the Solar System. The mission was managed by NASA Ames Research Center in California, and the spacecraft was built by TRW Inc.