The first spacecraft to approach the planet Saturn was launched 50 years ago on a 1.5 billion mile trip to Earth’s distant neighbor. During its 22-year mission, Pioneer 11 studied the asteroid belt, the solar wind, cosmic rays and the environment around the planets Jupiter and Saturn. The probe was part of the United States’ efforts leading the reconnaissance of each planet in the solar system.
When a person is called a “rocket scientist,” it can be referring to someone who supports space exploration, or it can simply mean he or she is very intelligent. A “rock star” usually refers to a member of a successful musical band or someone highly renowned in a particular field. Dr. Brian May could be considered both.
NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft continues to pass through the outer edges of the solar system. After a decade-long and more than 3.6 billion mile trip to Pluto, the probe is providing the first close up observations of of the tiny planet and the most distant objects in the solar system.
New Horizons beamed back the first-ever, close-up images and scientific observations of distant Pluto, its system of large and small moons, as well as the Kuiper Belt. A region of the solar system beyond the planets, the Kuiper Belt consists mainly of small planetary bodies.