Editing Pioneer program (section)

== Later missions (1965–1978) ==
[[File:NASM-NASM2016-00083.jpg|thumb|''Pioneer'' 10 / 11]]
Five years after the early Able space probe missions ended, [[NASA Ames Research Center]] used the Pioneer name for a new series of missions, initially aimed at the [[inner Solar System]], before the flyby missions to [[Jupiter]] and [[Saturn]]. While successful, the missions returned much poorer images than the [[Voyager program]] probes would five years later. In 1978, the end of the program saw a return to the inner Solar System, with the [[Pioneer Venus Orbiter]] and [[Pioneer Venus Multiprobe|Multiprobe]], this time using orbital insertion rather than flyby missions.

The new missions were numbered beginning with Pioneer 6 (alternate names in parentheses).

=== Interplanetary weather ===
The spacecraft in Pioneer missions [[Pioneer 6, 7, 8, and 9|6, 7, 8, and 9]] comprised a new interplanetary [[space weather]] network:
* Pioneer 6 (Pioneer A) – launched December 1965
* Pioneer 7 (Pioneer B) – launched August 1966
* Pioneer 8 (Pioneer C) – launched December 1967
* Pioneer 9 (Pioneer D) – launched November 1968 (''inactive since 1983'')
* Pioneer E – lost in launcher failure August 1969
Pioneer 6 and Pioneer 9 are in solar orbits with 0.8 [[Astronomical unit|AU]] distance to the Sun. Their orbital periods are therefore slightly shorter than Earth's. Pioneer 7 and Pioneer 8 are in solar orbits with 1.1 AU distance to the Sun. Their orbital periods are therefore slightly longer than Earth's. Since the probes' orbital periods differ from that of the Earth, from time to time, they face a side of the Sun that cannot be seen from Earth. The probes can sense parts of the Sun several days before the Sun's rotation reveals it to ground-based Earth orbiting observatories.

=== Outer Solar System missions ===
[[File:Outersolarsystem-probes-4407b.svg|thumb|400px|Map showing location and trajectories of the ''Pioneer 10'' (blue), ''Pioneer 11'' (green), ''[[Voyager 1]]'' (purple) and  ''[[Voyager 2]]'' (red) spacecraft, as of April 4, 2007]]
[[File:Pioneer10-plaque.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Pioneer plaque]] attached to Pioneers ''10'' and ''11'']]
* ''[[Pioneer 10]]'' (Pioneer F) –  [[Jupiter]], [[interstellar medium]], launched March 1972
* ''[[Pioneer 11]]'' (Pioneer G) –  [[Jupiter]], [[Saturn]], [[interstellar medium]], launched April 1973
* [[Pioneer H]]  – proposed out-of-[[ecliptic]] mission for 1974, never launched. Would have used flight spare for Pioneers 10 and 11.<ref>{{cite web |title= Pioneer H, Jupiter Swingby Out-of-the-Ecliptic Mission Study |url= https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073120_1993073120.pdf |date= 20 August 1971 |access-date= 7 July 2017 |archive-date= 14 May 2010 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100514075504/https://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930073120_1993073120.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>

=== Venus project ===
{{Main|Pioneer Venus project}}
* [[Pioneer Venus Orbiter]] (Pioneer Venus 1, Pioneer 12) – launched May 1978
* [[Pioneer Venus Multiprobe]] (Pioneer Venus 2, Pioneer 13) – launched August 1978
** Pioneer Venus Probe Bus – transport vehicle and upper atmosphere probe
** Pioneer Venus Large Probe – 300&nbsp;kg parachuted probe
** Pioneer Venus North Probe – 75&nbsp;kg impactor probe
** Pioneer Venus Night Probe – 75&nbsp;kg impactor probe
** Pioneer Venus Day Probe – 75&nbsp;kg impactor probe