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| A Pioneer 9 launch cover from "SpaceCraft", postmarked at Patrick Air Force Base with a machine cancel on November 8, 1968, signed by Charles F. Hall, the Pioneer Project Manager. |
The Delta launch vehicle also carried the Test and Training Satellite known as TETR 2 which was put into Earth orbit to test ground-based communications systems in support of the Apollo program. By May 1969, NASA announced that the mission had already achieved all its objectives, having transmitted more than 6 billion bits of data. NASA maintained contact with Pioneer 9 until May 19, 1983.
