Signal Dispels Fears of Pioneer 10 Being Lost

NASA scientists said they have contacted the Pioneer 10 spacecraft, ending fears that the robotic probe had gone silent 29 years into a mission that has carried it more than 7 billion miles from Earth.

A radio antenna outside Madrid received a signal Saturday from Pioneer 10, marking the first time the spacecraft had been heard from since Aug. 19. Pioneer was launched March 2, 1972.

Pioneer 10 was the first spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt and the first to obtain close-up images of Jupiter. In 1983, it became the first man-made object to leave the solar system when it passed the orbit of distant Pluto.