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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 ).
Galileo [9] [10] discovered the Galilean moons. These satellites were the first celestial objects that were confirmed to orbit an object other than the Sun or Earth. Galileo saw Io and Europa as a single point of light on 7 January 1610; they were seen as separate bodies the following night. [11] Callisto: Jupiter IV o: 8 January 1610 p: 13 ...
Historically, transits of Venus were important, because they allowed astronomers to determine the size of the astronomical unit, and hence the size of the Solar System as shown by Jeremiah Horrocks in 1639 with the first known observation of a Venus transit (after history's first observed planetary transit in 1631, of Mercury). [190]
Missions to Venus constitute part of the exploration of Venus. The Soviet Union, followed by the United States, have soft landed probes on the surface. Venera 7 was the first lander overall and first for the Soviet Union, touching down on 15 December 1970. Pioneer Venus 2 contained the first spacecraft to land from the United States, the Day ...
First spacecraft to return data on a long-period comet. USA (NASA) Mariner 10 [34] 5 February 1974: First mission to explore two planets in a single mission (Mercury and Venus). First photograph of Venus from space. First use of solar wind for spacecraft orientation. USA (NASA) Mariner 10 [34] 29 March 1974: First flyby of Mercury. USA (NASA ...
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Venus is one seriously hot planet, but it appears that is not its only claim to fame. Mysterious 6,000-mile-long wave discovered in Venus' atmosphere Skip to main content
Originally meant to impact with the Moon, it instead missed its target and became the first artificial object to orbit the Sun. Mariner 2 was the first planetary flyby, passing Venus in 1962. The first successful flyby of Mars was made by Mariner 4 in 1965. Mariner 10 first passed Mercury in 1974.