Pioneer 10 turns 50: Remembering humankind's first jaunt to Jupiter We might be nearing the 50th anniversary of the last Apollo Moon landing, but spare a thought for NASA's Pioneer missions. Pioneer 10, the first mission to the outer planets, was launched 50 years ago this month. It is difficult to grasp the sheer number of unknowns facing scientists and engineers with the Pioneer 10 and 11 …
True, but that's a motivation issue. Nothing motivates humans like killing their neighbors and claiming their possessions. That, added to the thrill of "kill or being killed", and you have the receipt for bringing the best out of anyone. It has always been, and will unfortunately remain so for hundreds of thousands of years, until the species evolves from a selfish hunter-gatherer to an entity with more "civilized" instincts and reflexes. Or goes extinct.
By which time it will have accumulated a dense irregular cigar-shaped coating of space dust, micrometeoroids, and other space-borne ephemera, and will startle the sentients living on Aldebaran IV as it drifts through the system. They'll fail to recognise it as an artificial object and christen it "[thing][fast][beyond][silent][temporary]", roughly translated as "scout".
Slightly off topic (only slightly), but you reminded me of 'Space Night' which used to broadcast on the German ARD channel (and a couple of others, if I remember) on analogue satellite back in the 80s/90s.
I used to go to sleep most nights watching (and listening) to that. It was just footage from various Earth-orbiting craft accompanied by mainly classical music.
Real chill-out stuff. I was really disappointed when Sky went digital and it wasn't available anymore.
I just finished "Rise of the Rocket Girls" which is about the "computers" (the women that did all the data reduction and computation) at JPL, starting in 1939 and ending in 2014 with Susan Finley who is still there after 60+ years.
It's not another "ahmigawd teh WOMEN working on ROCKETS" book - it simply happens to be about a group of people that happen to be all female and doesn't beat any drums or grind any axes.
It's incredibly well-researched. I wish I could read all the amazing articles, papers, and books it quotes in the bibliography.
There was a Burroughs E101 computer programmed by inserting needles in a pinboard. I'd never heard of it.
However, the last chapter is kind of sad, as the people you watched grow up, get old and retire after 40 or 50 years at the lab.
I think anyone that found this article interesting should read it.
Not even a sidebar on the plaque? OK, not the point of the mission and a long shot at best, but a nice touch.
One of Carl Sagan's books had a very entertaining chapter on the reactions of those easily shocked.
Great memories.
Pioneer 10 played such an important role in helping to define NASA's current day deep space exploration program. It doesn't receive the credit it (or Pioneer 11) are worthy of. If anyone is interested, a watch that pays tribute to this remarkable space probe and all of its accomplishments is being produced.
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