Venera 11 launched 1978

 

Venera ll, an unmanned Soviet spaceship, blasted off September 9, 1978.  It traveled about 3 1/2 months to Venus and ejected the lander.  The lander entered the Venusian atmosphere on December 25, 1978. It transmitted data for 95 minutes until the flight platform moved out of range.

The flight platform continued on and settled into a heliocentric orbit, detecting solar winds and gamma ray bursts.  Its mission ended February 1, 1980.

Venera 11 lands on Venus

Venera 15 launched 1983

Venera 15, a Soviet-era spacecraft, launched to Venus June 2, 1983. It reached Venus on October 10, 1983 and mapped the surface using high resolution imaging systems. The last contact was made in January 1985. 

Mariner 5, Venus probe, launched 1967

Mariner 5, launched June 14, 1967, carried a cadre of instruments to Venus, to study its atmosphere and magnetic field fluctuations above the planet. It had been built as a backup to Mariner 4, a Mars probe, but the Mariner 4 project was a success, NASA modified Mariner 5 to study Venus during the 1967 Venus launch window.

Mariner 5 flew by Venus on October 19, 1967 at an altitude of 2480 miles, and determined that the surface was hotter and the atmosphere denser than previous studies had indicated. 

Between April and November 1968, NASA tried to contact Mariner 5 to reacquire a signal for probing interplanetary conditions.  A signal was received in October, but the they had no success in gaining an uplink signal, so there was no possibility of fixing or continuing its use.  Operations were terminated November 5, 1968.  Mariner 5 remains in a heliocentric orbit.

Venera 16 launched 1983

 

Venera 16, a Soviet spacecraft to Venus launched June 7, 1983, entered into orbit around the planet just one day after its twin sister Venera 15, although Venera 15 was launched only 5 days earlier. Venera 16 entered a nearly polar orbit and, together with its twin, they mapped about 25% of Venus's surface over the course of 8 months.  The last data received from Venera 16 was on June 13, 1985.

Vega 2, Venus and Halley's Comet spacecraft, launched 1984

 

Vega 2, launched December 21, 1984 by the Soviet Union, visited Venus and Halley's Comet.  The descent module was released from the flyby probe on June 13, 1985 and reached Venus two days later.  It consisted of a surface lander and a balloon explorer.

The lander touched down in the northern region of Aphrodite Terra.  Pressure was 91 atm and the temperature was 865° F or 463° C. The lander transmitted data for 56 minutes. The balloon explorer floated at a stable altitude of 53-54 km where the pressure was about 0.5 atm and the temperature of 95° - 109° F or 35° - 43° C. It transmitted for almost two days, during which it travelled 11,100 km or 6900 mi.   until the final transmission.

The Vegas' motherships were redirected to intercept Halley's Comet and reached its destination on March 9, 1986. The encounter lasted about 3 hours at its closest approach at 8030 km or 4990 mi.   Contact with Vega 2 was lost on March 24, 1987 after it measured dust as it passed through orbits of Comet 72P/Denning-Fujikawa, Biela's Comet and Comet 289/Blanpain.

https://youtube.com/shorts/mRZbpLc1NT0?si=HxvXIaM11n7in_s-

Vega 1 to Venus and Halley's Comet launched 1984

Vega 1, Soviet spacecraft to Venus and Halley's Comet, was launched December 15, 1984.  Its twin Vega 2 was launched six days later.  It reached Venus June 11, 1985, releasing its descent module two days prior.  The landing module contained a surface lander and a balloon explorer.

Vega 1 made a gravitational assist using Venus's gravity to continue its mission to Halley's Comet.  The first images of the comet were received March 4, 1986 and made its closest approach on March 6. Vega 1 sent images for the next two days.  The last contact made with the spacecraft as it headed into deep space was January 1987. 

David Walker, Space Shuttle astronaut, born 1944

David Walker, born May 20, 1944 in Columbus, Georgia, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-51-A) as pilot in November 1984.  The flight recovered two satellites.

His second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-30) as commander in May 1989.  The primary objective of the mission was to deploy the Magellan spacecraft to Venus.

His third flight was aboard Discovery (STS-53) as commander in December 1992.  It was a mission dedicated to the US Department of Defense.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-69) as commander in September 1995.  It was the second flight of the Wake Shield Facility.

He passed away from cancer in April 2001.

Zond 1 launched 1964

Zond 1, launched April 2, 1964, was the second Soviet spacecraft to reach Venus.  On its journey, a slow leak formed in a crack in a sensor window, which caused the compartment to lose air pressure.  The vacuum tubes, used in Soviet electronics, overheat without air to cool them.  Ground control turned on Zond 1's radio system when there was little atmosphere inside. The electronics shorted out.  

By the middle of April 1964, all transmissions from the main spacecraft had ceased, but ground control could still communicate with the lander, and they received space radiation and spectrometer measurements.  

Two course corrections were performed during the flight but the second one was off by 65 ft/sec, and ground controllers placed it into a spin-stabilization mode.  By May 14, all communications failed, and on July 14 it passed within 100,000 km of Venus.

Pioneer Venus Multiprobe releases 4 probes into Venusian atmosphere 1978

The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, Pioneer Venus 2 or Pioneer 13, launched in 1978, released one large and three smaller probes into the Venusian atmosphere, December 9, 1978.  The probes collected data as they descended toward the surface.  They did not carry photographic instruments and were not designed to survive landing.  However, one did survive and continued transmitting for an hour after impact.  

The probes found temperatures between 448 °C and 459 °C at the surface.  Pressure on the ground is between 86.2 bar and 94.5 bar.   

Venera 14 launched 1981

Venera 14, launched November 4, 1981, just 5 days after its identical twin Venera 13, took pictures and audio of Venus.    The descent vehicle separated from the spacecraft and descended into the Venusian atmosphere in March 1982.  A parachute slowed its rate of descent until about 31 miles altitude and then airbraking was used the rest of the way down.  It landed near the eastern flank of Phoebe Regio, about 590 miles southwest of Venera 13.

The lander functioned for at least 57 minutes, although it was planned to last only 32.  It measured the surface temperature of 869° F and 94 Earth atmospheres or 9.5 MPa.

Mariner 10 launched 1973

Mariner 10, launched November 3, 1973, was the first spacecraft to to visit two planets.  It was the last spacecraft of the Mariner program.  It made a flyby of Venus in February 1974.  It proceeded to make three flybys of Mercury in March 1974, September 1974 and then March 1975.  

Mariner 10 was decommissioned shortly after.

Venera 13 launched 1981

Venera 13, launched October 30, 1981, sent back the first color pictures of Venus.  Its twin Venera 14 was launched only 5 days later.  The descent vehicle separated from the spacecraft and entered the Venusian atmosphere March 1, 1982.

It was expected to last for about 30 minutes, it functioned for over 2 hours before ceasing its transmissions. Venera 13 made the first sound recording of another planet.

Galileo mission ends as probe crashes into Jupiter 2003

Galileo spacecraft, launched October 18, 1989, ended its mission when NASA sent it plunging into Jupiter's atmosphere, September 21, 2003.  It flew by Venus in February 1990 and flew by Earth in December 1990 and approached asteroid 951 Gaspra in October 1991.  It made a second flyby of Earth in December 1992 before making close observations of another asteroid Ida.  It discovered Ida's moon Dactyl, the first time a moon orbiting an asteroid had ever been seen.  

Galileo observed fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crash into Jupiter.  Besides examining Jupiter, it made several flybys of moons Europa and Io.  

NASA turned off Galileo's cameras in January 2002, since they had been permanently damaged by radiation.  They were able to recover scientific data from a damaged tape recorder and received measurements of the moon Amalthea, before taking its final plunge.

The mission was successful beyond imagination.

Venera 4 launches to Venus 1967

Venera 4, launched June 12, 1967, is the first spacecraft to survive entry into another planet's atmosphere.  The Soviets sent Venera 4 to Venus, and it arrived October 18, 1967 and entered the Venusian atmosphere.  The descent lasted 93 seconds, but it managed to relay some important information.  It measured temperature at 504 °F and pressure at 22 x the Earth's.  Atmospheric composition was determined to be 90-93% carbon dioxide, 7% nitrogen, 0.1-1.6% water vapor and 0.4-0.8% oxygen.

Akatsuki, JAXA Venus Climate Orbiter, launched 2010

Akatsuki (Dawn), launched May 20, 2010, is a Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency spacecraft to study the Venusian atmosphere.  The spacecraft was supposed to attain orbit over Venus in December 2010, but the maneuver failed.  Akatsuki was placed in a heliocentric orbit.

A second orbital insertion burn was initiated in December 2015 and the maneuver was successful.  Akatsuki began its operations in May 2016.  Its mission has been extended through the end of 2020 and further missions may be possible.

Pioneer 5 launched 1960

Pioneer 5, launched March 11, 1960, was to be the first probe to fly past Venus.  Technical issues delayed the launch until the window of opportunity to Venus had closed.  Instead of waiting another 3 years, NASA sent it into space, between the orbits of Earth and Venus.

It measured solar flare particles and cosmic radiation.  The last signal from Pioneer 5 was received June 26, 1960 when it was over 36 million miles away.

Vega 2 encounters Halley's Comet 1986

Vega 2, launched in December 1984, made its closest approach to Halley's Comet March 9, 1986.  It first released a descent module onto the surface of Venus in June 1985.  After the Venus encounter, the Soviet spacecraft used the planet's gravity to intercept the comet.  It began its enounter on March 7, 1986 and made its closest approach March 9.  It took 700 images of Halley's Comet.

Contact with Vega 2 was lost March 24, 1987.

Sputnik 7 launched 1961

Sputnik 7, launched February 4, 1961, was intended to be the first spacecraft to explore Venus.  However, it failed to leave Earth orbit.  It re-entered the atmosphere February 26.

Mariner 10 second flyby of Mercury 1974

Mariner 10, launched in November 1973, made its second of three flybys of Mercury September 21, 1974. It had made a flyby of Venus prior to its first visit of Mercury.  Mariner 10 managed to photograph almost half of the planet during its second encounter.  It flew within 30,000 miles of the southern hemisphere.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Mark Lee!

Mark Lee, born August 14, 1952 in Viroqua, Wisconsin, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first flight was on Atlantis (STS-30) as mission specialist in May 1989.  The main objective of the mission was to deploy the Magellan spacecraft to Venus.

His second mission was on Endeavour (STS-47) as mission specialist in September 1992. Also on board was Lee's then-wife Jan Davis, whom he had married secretly a few weeks prior to the flight.  NASA was forced to waive the rule about married couples not assigned to the same mission.  Lee and Davis later divorced.

Lee's third flight was on Discovery (STS-64) as mission specialist in September 1994.  Lee conducted an EVA with fellow astronaut Carl Meade for almost 7 hours.

Lee's fourth and final mission was again on Discovery (STS-82) as mission specialist in February 1997.  He conducted 3 EVAs with fellow astronaut Steven Smith lasting over 19 hours total.