UMSF space history photo of the month Options

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Maybe we could make this a monthly item, in which we could look back at the history of Unmanned Space missions.
For January 2008 I've chosen an image showing the coverage of the Sun by early Pioneer 5-8 spacecraft.
Pioneer 5 to 8, or Pioneer V to VIII using the system of Roman numerals in vogue during the early 1960s for spacecraft designations, were directed towards the Sun along the earth's orbit to monitor solar activity. Pioneer V was launched on 11th March 1960 and provided the very first space weather report 4 to 8 hours before a solar storm hit the Earth.
Some of this Pioneer quartet, Pioneer 6-7-8 even provided updates on our Sun's activity during the early Apollo Moon landings in order to check the damaging potential of solar flares to affect the astronauts.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

As a follow-on of the Mariner series, Pioneer F/G were built...
The 260 kg spin-stabilised Pioneer 10 spacecraft established a historic triumph of science and engineering by setting unprecedented flight records. Pioneer 10 not only became the first spacecraft to pass beyond the orbit of Mars, cross the asteroid belt and travel to Jupiter but also became the first spacecraft to leave the solar system and head into interstellar space.

See the Pioneer topics for more info