Pioneer Spacecraft First Into The Asteroid Belt Options

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Launch Pioneer 10 ( 02 March 1972 )
Pioneer 10 entered the Asteroidbelt in July 1972 and emerged in February 1973 ... passing safely as we know ... during 7 months ... Jupiter Flyby in November 1973.
So we had Jovian flyby 7 months after passing Asteroid belt!


Launch Pioneer 11 ( 05 April 1973 )
Pioneer 11 entered the Asteroidbelt in March 1974 and emerged in ??? ( September 1974 ) ... encountered Jupiter in December 1974.
Already 3 months after it cleared the Asteroid belt ?
( went on for flyby of Saturn in August 1979 )

Does someone have exact dates for both Pioneers' milestones ?


Best regards,
Philip

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

Yep -- that's the backup. NASA briefly considered using it for a Jupiter orbiter or an out-of-ecliptic solar orbiter -- that is, as an earlier Ulysses (for which it would have required almost no modification). All those plans vanished, along with so many other interesting space science proposals, into the Shuttle's bottomless and pointless (except for pork enthusiasts) maw. Going to the Museum and seeing it, the third Voyager, the third Viking lander, and the Mariner 10 backup all hanging on the walls (or, in Viking's case, sitting on the floor) and gathering dust is enough to make one think of "Ozymandias".