Mariner 2 Launched: First Probe Bound for Venus
NASA launched the Mariner 2 space probe on August 27, 1962, sending it on a 109-day journey to Venus. The spacecraft flew within 21,648 miles of the planet on December 14, making it the first successful interplanetary flyby in history. Mariner 2's infrared and microwave radiometers measured Venus's surface temperature at roughly 900 degrees Fahrenheit, far hotter than anyone had predicted, destroying theories that the planet might harbor life beneath its clouds. The probe also detected no magnetic field, suggesting Venus had no protective magnetosphere. The mission operated for 129 days before contact was lost. Mariner 2 remains in a heliocentric orbit around the Sun, a silent monument to the beginning of planetary exploration.
August 27, 1962
64 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on August 27
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