On May 20, 1978, NASA launched a spacecraft to Venus.
The mission was called Pioneer-Venus 1, but it’s also known as the Pioneer Venus Orbiter. This was the first of two spacecraft that made up the Pioneer Venus mission. Pioneer Venus 2 launched a couple months later, and that spacecraft dropped five probes onto the surface of Venus. NASA called this the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe. The orbiter was designed to study the atmosphere of Venus. It was a solar-powered cylinder about the size of a hot tub. The mission launched from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas-Centaur rocket and reached Venus about six months later. While orbiting Venus, it measured the structure of the upper atmosphere and studied how the solar wind interacts with its ionosphere and magnetic field. It also detected gamma-ray bursts and made ultraviolet observations of comets. Pioneer Venus 1 continued to beam back data for 14 years before its decaying orbit sent it into Venus’s atmosphere, where it was destroyed.
The mission was called Pioneer-Venus 1, but it’s also known as the Pioneer Venus Orbiter. This was the first of two spacecraft that made up the Pioneer Venus mission. Pioneer Venus 2 launched a couple months later, and that spacecraft dropped five probes onto the surface of Venus. NASA called this the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe. The orbiter was designed to study the atmosphere of Venus. It was a solar-powered cylinder about the size of a hot tub. The mission launched from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas-Centaur rocket and reached Venus about six months later. While orbiting Venus, it measured the structure of the upper atmosphere and studied how the solar wind interacts with its ionosphere and magnetic field. It also detected gamma-ray bursts and made ultraviolet observations of comets. Pioneer Venus 1 continued to beam back data for 14 years before its decaying orbit sent it into Venus’s atmosphere, where it was destroyed.
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TechTranscript
00:01On this day in space.
00:03On May 20th, 1978, NASA launched a spacecraft to Venus.
00:07The mission was called Pioneer Venus 1,
00:09but it's also known as the Pioneer Venus Orbiter.
00:12This was the first of two spacecraft
00:14that made up the Pioneer Venus mission.
00:16Pioneer Venus 2 launched a couple months later,
00:19and that spacecraft dropped five probes
00:21onto the surface of Venus.
00:22NASA called this the Pioneer Venus Multiprobe.
00:25The orbiter was designed to study the atmosphere of Venus.
00:28It was a solar-powered cylinder about the size of a hot tub.
00:32The mission launched from Cape Canaveral on an Atlas Centaur rocket
00:35and reached Venus about six months later.
00:38While orbiting Venus, it measured the structure of the upper atmosphere
00:41and studied how solar wind interacts with its ionosphere and magnetic field.
00:45It also detected gamma-ray bursts
00:47and made ultraviolet observations of comets.
00:50Pioneer Venus 1 continued to beam back data for 14 years
00:53before its decaying orbit sent it into Venus' atmosphere,
00:56where it was destroyed.
00:58And that's what happened on this day in space.