Pioneering Venus: A Planet Unveiled

Since their first launches in 1958, pioneering spacecraft have made many trail-blazing discoveries in exploring the Solar System. Initial attempts of our nation to probe interplanetary space were with spacecraft named Pioneer. The first of several small spacecraft was launched successfully by the Air Force Ballistic Missile Division in November 1958. One of these spacecraft escaped completely from Earth's gravity and went into solar orbit. It was the first interplanetary spacecraft. Subsequently, NASA's Pioneers 6 through 9 made major discoveries about interplanetary particles and fields and the solar wind. Pioneers 10 and 1 1 explored the asteroid belt and the magnetospheres and physical natures of the giant outer planets Jupiter and Saturn.