10-22-2008, 05:47 PM
|
|
|
Deputy Chief Command
Industry Role:
Join Date: Nov 2005
Posts: 4,482
|
Quote:
|
Pioneer 11 was launched on 5 April 1973, like Pioneer 10, on top of an Atlas/Centaur/TE364-4 launch vehicle. After safe passage through the Asteroid belt on 19 April 1974, the Pioneer 11 thrusters were fired to add another 64 m/sec (210 ft/sec) to the spacecraft's velocity. This adjusted the aiming point at Jupiter to 43,000 km (26,700 miles) above the cloudtops. The close approach also allowed the spacecraft to be accelerated by Jupiter to a velocity 55 times that of the muzzle velocity of a high speed rifle bullet - 175,000 km/hr (110,000 mph) - so that it would be carried across the Solar System some 2.4 billion kilometers (1.5 billion miles) to Saturn.
|
I win ! 
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/mis...e/pioneer.html
__________________
|
|
|