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Mariner 2 (Mariner-Venus 1962), an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space probe to report successfully from a planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in the NASA Mariner program , it was a simplified version of the Block I spacecraft of the Ranger program and an exact copy of Mariner 1 .
Mariner 2 (designated Mariner R-2) was launched on August 27, 1962, sending it on a 3½-month flight to Venus. The mission was a success, and Mariner 2 became the first spacecraft to have flown by another planet. On the way it measured for the first time the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles flowing outward from the Sun.
Spacecraft Event Remarks 28 January: Ranger 3: Flyby of the Moon: Failed impactor, closest approach: 36,793 kilometres (22,862 mi) 26 April: Ranger 4: Lunar impact: Impacted far side, no data returned 21 October: Ranger 5: Flyby of the Moon: Failed impactor, closest approach: 724 kilometres (450 mi) 14 December: Mariner 2: Flyby of Venus
Global topographic map of Venus, with all probe landings marked (red: returned images; with additional black dot: analyzed samples). There have been 46 space missions to the planet Venus (including gravity-assist flybys). Missions to Venus constitute part of the exploration of Venus.
A planetary flyby is the act of sending a space probe past a planet or a dwarf planet close enough to record scientific data. [1] This is a subset of the overall concept of a flyby in spaceflight. The first flyby of another planet with a functioning spacecraft took place on December 14, 1962, when Mariner 2 zoomed by the planet Venus. [2]
The first successful flyby Venus probe was the American Mariner 2 spacecraft, which flew past Venus in 1962, coming within 35,000 km. A modified Ranger Moon probe, it established that Venus has practically no intrinsic magnetic field and measured the temperature of the planet's atmosphere to be approximately 500 °C (773 K ; 932 °F ).
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Contact with Venera 1 was lost 7 days after launch. It was the first spacecraft to fly by Venus, or indeed any planet. [76] Mariner 2: Venus 27 August 1962 14 December 1962 110 days (3 months, 18 days) Mariner 2 flew by Venus at a minimum distance of 34,773 km. It was the first spacecraft to return data from Venus. [77] Mars 1: Mars 1 November 1962