The plasma investigation made use of two Faraday-cup detectors, one pointed along the earth-spacecraft line and one at right angles to this line. The earth-pointing detector determined the macroscopic properties of the plasma ions, obtaining accurate values of their velocity, density, and pressure. Three sequential energy scans were employed with (delta E)/E equal to 29, 7.2, and 1.8%, allowing a coverage from subsonic to highly supersonic flow. The side-looking Faraday cup measured electrons in the energy range from 5 eV to 1 keV.