Time Capsules in America Pioneer 10

About the deep space time capsule Pioneer 10 or Atlas Centaur, history of the space probe.

TIME CAPSULES IN AMERICA

Pioneer 10

On Mar. 2, 1972, from a launch pad at Cape Kennedy, Fla., this three-stage Atlas Centaur rocket was catapulted into outer space. It contained a special plaque designed in such a way that if any extraterrestrial beings in a remote solar system found it, they would understand exactly where in our solar system Earth was located. They would also learn something about the rocket's builders and the rocket's mission. This Atlas Centaur rocket passed Jupiter on Dec. 3, 1973, sending back vital information. It will pass Uranus in 1979, and then continue on past the most distant part of the solar system--traveling for 2 million years toward the star Aldebaran. The probe is the longest space journey ever attempted by a man-made object.