Pioneer 10 Leaves Solar System

Date: June 13, 1983 • Location: Rome, Italy

Pioneer 10 passed the orbit of Neptune, becoming the first man-made object to leave the proximity of the major planets of the Solar System.

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.