Completed · Success
Pioneer 6 was the first of several NASA spacecraft designed for launch at six-month intervals to study interplanetary phenomena in space in heliocentric orbits similar to that of Earth. These spacecraft successfully provided simultaneous scientific measurements at widely dispersed locations in heliocentric orbit.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- Delta-35
- Launch site
- Cape Canaveral, Launch Complex 17A
- Countries
- United States
- Mission types
- Heliophysics
Chronology
Mission timeline
Mission architecture
Vehicles
Pioneer 6 · Spacecraft
Destinations: Sun
Trajectory record
Time-dependent navigation trajectory
Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.
Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.
- Pioneer 6: Estimated · January 1, 1996 to December 28, 1999
- Pioneer 6: COHOWeb HGI positions fitted to a heliocentric conic · 1965-12-16 to 1971-05-08 · December 16, 1965 to May 8, 1971
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through October 12, 2026
- Pioneer 06 - NASA Science — NASAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Pioneer 6: spacecraft and original data review — NSSDCAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Pioneer 6 mission history — NASAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Pioneer6-9 original and restored ephemeris tape documentation — NASAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Pioneer6-9 compressed ephemeris tape documentation — NASAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- COHOWeb historical heliographic positions and coordinate conventions — NASAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Pioneer6 historical SPK source quality — NAIFSpice · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Major NASA Expendable Launch Vehicle Launches — NASAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Pioneer 6 - NASA Science — NASAMission page · Supports: mission claims
- NASA Historical Data Book, Volume II, Tables 3-147–3-150: Pioneer 6–9 Characteristics — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- NASA Release 65-375: NASA Schedules First in New Pioneer Series — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- The Interplanetary Pioneers, Volume II: System Design and Development (NASA SP-279) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Our Sun: Facts — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context
- Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context