Pioneer 6, Antique at 20, Is Still in Circulation

Pioneer 6, the drum-shaped spacecraft that was designed to last for six months, was alive and well on its 20th birthday, a remarkable record for a Space Age antique that nearly didn’t get off the ground.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, using its Deep Space Network, tracked the oldest working U.S. spacecraft in the sky for 45 minutes on Tuesday in a largely ceremonial gesture. It was the first contact with the craft in more than a year.

“It was right where we expected it to be,” said Robert Ryan of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena. “After 20 years, it appears to be in good shape.”

Opposite Side of the Sun

The craft, which is on the opposite side of the sun but in about the same orbit as the Earth, is 170 million miles away, about as far away from the Earth as it ever gets.

Other spacecraft have taken over the solar observation functions that Pioneer 6 and three sister-ships performed during the early days of the manned space program, but the small craft continues collecting data. The tracking stations on Earth rarely check in with Pioneer 6 anymore because of more pressing assignments.

Around the country, engineers and scientists who worked on the project toasted the craft on Monday in celebration of the 20th anniversary of its launch from Cape Canaveral and again on Tuesday upon confirmation that Pioneer 6 is still alive. Parties were held at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, which is the custodian of Pioneer 6, and at TRW in Redondo Beach, where the 35-inch-tall craft was built.

Amid the revelry, contact with Pioneer 6 also brought back, for some, vivid memories of a time when the space program was in its infancy and of a launch that could have turned into a disaster.

TRW’s retired project manager for the Pioneer program, Aubrey C. Mickelwait, 60, had recalled in a Times story last Wednesday the somewhat harrowing launch 20 years ago. Someone accidentally unplugged the rocket from its ground control system minutes before the launch, in effect creating a bomb that could have gone off at any moment.

“I nearly fell out of my chair when I read that,” said Otto Wehrle, 82, a retired Douglas Aircraft engineer who had been on the launch tower when the plug was pulled. “I never thought I would see that in print.”

Wehrle added a few more of the details of that historic launch. He said he was working on the missile when “a voice came over the loudspeaker and said calmly, ‘Will all personnel clear the pad.’ Then the danger light came on.”

Wehrle, who was about seven floors above the ground, started down the long stairway.

“I was not so young even in those days,” he said, “and I could hear someone behind me saying ‘Faster, please. Faster, please.’ ”

He said he can still hear the sounds of footsteps behind him.

Wehrle recalled that an Air Force photographer did not even have a chance to flee the pad.

‘A Good View’

“He was way up above the missile on a tower (adjusting his cameras)” and would not have had time to get away, Wehrle said. “He just sat down. He said later that if the thing went off, at least he would have had a good view.”

It didn’t, of course. Some unsung hero plugged the cord back in and the rocket was launched without further incident.

The 140-pound craft has traveled more than 12 billion miles, circling the sun 23 times. It was still sending back data on Tuesday, although the amount has been reduced to a trickle because of weakening power systems aboard the craft.

“We just got engineering data” about the spacecraft during Tuesday’s tracking, JPL’s Ryan said.

Not a very dramatic exchange, perhaps, but it was enough to confirm that the oldest living spacecraft isn’t quite through yet.