先驱者号(Pioneer)

美国最早的不载人的一系列外太空探测器的统称。「先驱者1号」是美国国家航空暨太空总署美国国家航空和宇航局发射的第一艘太空船（1958）。「先驱者1号」至「先驱者4号」都被用於作绕月飞行，但只有「先驱者4号」成功挣脱出地球的引力（1964）。「先驱者6号」至「先驱者9号」都被射进绕太阳轨道（1965～1968），被用於研究太阳风，太阳磁场和宇宙射线。1972年发射的「先驱者10号」实现了第一次横穿行星带并掠过木星（1973），发现木星磁层伸展出来的巨大磁尾。科学家利用「先驱者11号」发回的资料和照片发现了两颗以前未知的卫星，环绕土星的另外一条光环以及磁层的辐射带。「先驱者-金星」1号和2号於1978年开始绕金星飞行，并发回了关於金星云层和下层大气层的观察资料以及金星表面的雷达照片。「先驱者-金星」2号还发射了四枚探测器到金星大气层。

English version：

Pioneer

First series of unmanned U.S. deep-space probes. Pioneer 1 was the first spacecraft launched by NASA (1958). Pioneers 1-4 were all intended to be lunar missions, but only Pioneer 4 succeeded in escaping earth's gravity (1964). Pioneers 6-9 were successfully launched into solar orbits (1965-68) to study the solar wind, solar magnetic field, and cosmic rays. Pioneer 10, launched in 1972, was the first space probe to traverse the asteroid belt and the first to fly by Jupiter (1973), where it discovered Jupiter's huge magnetic tail. It then became the first manmade object to exit the solar system. Pioneer 11's data and photographs (1979) enabled scientists to identify two previously undiscovered moons and an additional ring around Saturn and radiation belts in its magnetosphere. Pioneer Venus 1 and 2 began orbiting Venus in 1978, sending back observations of its clouds and lower atmosphere and radar maps of its surface; Pioneer Venus 2 also released four probes into its atmosphere.