Pioneer 10 Space Probe Reestablishes Contact With Earth

The Pioneer 10 space probe, launched in 1972 and silent for eight months, phoned home from more than 7 billion miles away after getting a radio call from Earth, NASA said last week. Pioneer 10 had not made contact since last August, and although NASA scientists had lost contact before, the silences had only lasted for a week or two. Such a long hiatus probably means something has broken down.

Still, the craft is chugging along at a brisk 27,380 mph, far beyond our solar system but not quite out of range of the sun’s influence. Pioneer 10 was meant to examine the outer reaches of the solar system. In its heyday, it was the first spacecraft to go through the asteroid belt, the first to send back pictures of Saturn and Jupiter and the first to go beyond Pluto.

--Compiled by Times medical writer Thomas H. Maugh II