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| "SpaceCraft" Pioneer 9 launch cover cancelled at Patrick Air Force Base, November 8, 1968. Signed by Pioneer Project Manager, Charles F. Hall. |
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.
