On January 22, 2003, NASAs Pioneer 10 spacecraft beams its last information transmission back to Earth. Pioneer 10 was NASAs very first objective to the external worlds. It was the very first spacecraft to fly through the asteroid belt, the very first to go to Jupiter, and the very first to endeavor beyond the outer planets.An artists view of a Pioneer spacecraft heading into interstellar area. Both Pioneer 10 and 11 are on trajectories that will eventually take them out of our solar system. (Image credit: NASA Ames Research Center) The spacecraft is currently on its method out of the solar system and has actually taken a trip more than 10 billion miles away from Earth.While it was originally intended to last just 21 months, Pioneer 10 kept collecting and transferring data for more than 30 years before its radioisotope power supply decayed, and NASA might no longer get in touch with it.Catch up on our entire “On This Day In Space” series on YouTube with this playlist. On This Day in Space Archive! Still not enough space? Dont forget to take a look at our Space Image of the Day, and on the weekends our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week. Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..
