NASA SP-2002-4524

Deep Space Chronicle

A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes
1958-2000

ASIF A. SIDDIQI

Monographs in Aerospace History

Number 24
June 2002

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Office of External Relations
NASA History Office
Washington, DC 20546-0001
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Siddiqi, AsifA., 1966-

Deep space chronicle: a chronology of deep space and planetary probes, 1958-2000 / by AsifA. Siddiqi,
p.cm. - (Monographs in aerospace history; no. 24) (NASA SP; 2002-4524)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Space flight--History--20th century. I. Title. II. Series. III. NASA SP; 4524

TL 790,$53 2002
629.4'V0904_de21 2001044012
 Table of Contents

Foreword by Roger D. Launius .......................................... 1

Introduction ...................................................... 11

1958 .......................................................... 17
1) Able 1 / "Pioneer 0" . .................................................. 17
2) no name / [Luna] ..................................................... 17
3) Able 2 / "Pioneer 0" . .................................................. 18
4) no name / [Luna] ..................................................... 18
5) Pioneer 2 ........................................................... 18
6) no name / [Luna] ..................................................... 19
7) Pioneer 3 ........................................................... 19

1959 .......................................................... 21
8) Cosmic Rocket ....................................................... 21
9) Pioneer 4 ........................................................... 22
10) no name / lLuna] .................................................... 22
11) Second Cosmic Rocket ................................................ 23
12) Automatic Interplanetary Station ....................................... 23
13) Able IVB/"Pioneer" . ................................................ 23

1960 .......................................................... 5

14 Pioneer 5 .......................................................... 25
15 no name / [Luna] .................................................... 25
16 no name / [LunM .................................................... 26
17 Able VA/"Pioneer" . ................................................ 26
]8 no name / IMars] .................................................... 26
19 no name / lMarsl .................................................... 27
2o Able VB / "Pioneer" . ................................................. 27

1961 .......................................................... 29
21) Tyazhelyy Sputnik / [Veneral ........................................... 29
22) Venera ............................................................ 29
2:3) Ranger 1 .......................................................... 31
24) Ranger 2 .......................................................... 31

1 962 .......................................................... 33
25) Ranger 3 .......................................................... 33
26) Ranger 4 .......................................................... 3,3
27) Mariner 1 .......................................................... 34
28) no name / lVeneral ................................................... 34
29) Mariner 2 .......................................................... 34
30) no name / [Veneral ................................................... 35
31) no name / [Venera] ................................................... 35
32) Ranger 5 .......................................................... 35
33) no name / [Mars] .................................................... 36
34) Mars 1 ............................................................ 36
35) no name / IMars] .................................................... 37

....................... T_bieoi_-o,_te.t_
 1963

36) no name / lLuna] ................................................... .39

37) no name / [Luna] ............................................. .39
38) Luna 4 _ ............................................ .39
39) Kosmos 21 / [Zondl .................................................. .40
.40
1964

41>
noname/IZondi
ii;i:............................................... 41
42) noname/ILunM ..... " ........................................ 44_
43) Kosmos 27 / [Zond] ............................................. 42
44) Zond 1 ............................................................. 42
45) no name / [Luna] ................................................ 43
46) Ranger 7
47) Mariner 3 .......................................................... 43
48) Mariner 4 .......................................................... 43

49,Zond2ii;iiii;i;iii;i;::iii;;ii:;i:iii;;i;;i;ii;:iiiii;iiiiiii144 .45
1965
50) "l_anger 8 ................................................... 47
51)"Atlas Centau'r'5" .................................................... 47
521gosmos60/ ILunai"i ..................... .47
53)Ran_er
9 ...................... iiiii ;iiiiiiiii;;iiiiiiii 4_
54! no name / ILunal ................................................ .48
55) Luna 5 .......................................................... .48
56_ Luna 6 .48
57) ............................................................ 49
Zond 3 .................................. . .
58) Surveyor Model 1 ...................... 49
59) Luna 7 .................................................... 50
60_ ............................................................ 50
Venera
61) Venera 32 .......................................................... .50
621 Kosmos ........................................................... 51
63) Luna 896 / [Venera] ................................................. 51
64) Pioneer ; ........................................................... 51
.......................................................... 52

1966

65) Luna 9 ........ " ................... 53

66) Kosmos 111 / [Lunal ................................................ .53

67) Luna 10 .53
68} Surveyor Model 2 .................................................. 54
69) Surveyor 1 .................................................. 54
70) Explorer 33 .................................................. " ....... 55
71) Lunar Orbite; l ...................................................... 56
72) Pioneer 7 ..................................................... 56
73) Luna 11 .......................................................... 56
74) ........................................................... 57
75) Surveyor
Luna 12 2 ........................................................ .57
76) Lunar Orbit;; 2 ...................................................... 58
77) Luna 13 ..................................................... 58
........................................................... 58

Deep ,Space Chronicle -

1967 .......................................................... 61
78) Lunar Orbiter 3 ..................................................... 61
79) Surveyor 3 ......................................................... 61
80) Lunar Orbiter 4 ..................................................... 63
81) Kosmos 159 / [Luna] ................................................. 63
82) Venera 4 ........................................................... 64
83) Mariner 5 .......................................................... 64
84) Kosmos 167 / [Venera] ............................................... 65
85) Surveyor 4 ......................................................... 65
86) Explorer 35 ........................................................ 65
87) Lunar Orbiter 5 ..................................................... 66
88) Surveyor 5 ......................................................... 67
897 no name / [Zond] .................................................... 67
90) Surveyor 6 ......................................................... 67
91) no name / [Zond] ..................................................... 68
92) Pioneer 8 .......................................................... 68

1968 .......................................................... 69

93) Surveyor 7 ......................................................... 69

94) no name / [Luna] .................................................... 69
95) Zond 4 ............................................................ 70
96) Luna 14 ........................................................... 70
97) no name / [Zondl .................................................... 70
98) Zond 5 ............................................................ 70
99) Pioneer 9 .......................................................... 71
100) Zond 6 ........................................................... 71

1 969 .......................................................... 73
1011Venera 5 .......................................................... 73
102) Venera 6 .......................................................... 74
103) no name / [Zond] ................................................... 74
104) no name / [Luna] ................................................... 74
1051) no name / [N1 launch test] ............................................ 75
106) Mariner 6 ......................................................... 75
107) no name / {Mars] ................................................... 76
108) Mariner 7 ......................................................... 76
109) no name / [Mars} ................................................... 77
110) no name / lLuna] ................................................... 77
111) no name / IN1 test flight} ............................................ 78
112) Luna 15 .......................................................... 78
113) Zond 7 ........................................................... 78
114) Pioneer ........................................................... 79
115) Kosmos 300 / [Luna] ................................................. 79
116) Kosmos 305 / [Luna] ................................................. 79

1970 .......................................................... 81
117) no name / ILunal ................................................... 81
118) Venera 7 .......................................................... 81
119) Kosmos 359/[VeneraJ ............................................... 82
120) Luna 16 .......................................................... 82
1211) Zond 8 ........................................................... 83
122) Luna 17 .......................................................... 83
 1971

124) Kosmos 419/ Mars/ .......................................... 85

125) Mars 2 ............................................. 85
126) Mars 3 ...................................................... 86
127) Mariner 9 ........................................................ 87

128) Apollo 15 Particle and Fields Subsatellite .......................... 88

l , onal
::::::::::::::::::::::::::ii!iiii!iJiiiiiiiii
130) Luna 19 .90
.90
1972

131) Luna 20 ........................................................ .93

132) Pioneer 10 ................. . .............................. .93
,33) Venera 8 ......................................................... .93
134) Kosmos 482 / [Veneral .............................................. .97
135) Apollo 16 Particles and Fields Subsatellite .98
136) no name / [N1 launch test] ............................... 98
............................................ 98
1973
137)
L_.;d .................................................. ,0,
138) Pioneer 11 ........................................................ 101
139) Explorer 49 ....................................................... 102
140) Mars 4 ...................................................... 102
141)Mars5 ::::: ..................................................... 103
14_,Mars6 ..... i:i:i::i:i::i::: ..................................... 104
143) Mars 7 ..................................... 104
10 ::i . , ....... ' ...................................... 105
144) Mariner i i. i ........................................... 105
1974
1451,L,;,;_2.................................................. ,07
1461Luna23 iii:ii:iiiiiiiii
... ' ..................................... 107
147) Helios 1 ..................................... 107
....................................................... 10_

1 975
148,
V_ir_'9
.................................................. '09
149) Venera 10 ...................................................... 109
150) Viking 1 ........................................................ 110
151) Viking 2 ......................................................... 110
152) no name/ILuna] ......... ' ................................... 111
................ iiiii .................................... 1,2
1 976
153') Heiiol 2 .................................................. 11 5
154) Luna 24 ................................................... 115
......................................................... 115
1 977
155!) Voyager 2 ................................................. ]1 7
156) Voyager 1 ........................................................ 117
........................................................ 120

Deep Space C hron!cJe ................... . .

L
1978 ......................................................... 123
157) Pioneer Venus 1 ................................................... 123
158) Pioneer Venus 2 ................................................... 124
159) ISEE-3 .......................................................... 125
160) Venera 11 ........................................................ 125
161) Venera 12 ........................................................ 126

1981 ......................................................... 129

162) Venera 13 ........................................................ 129
163) Venera 14 ........................................................ 130

1983 ......................................................... 131

164)Venera 15 ........................................................ 131
165)Venera 16 ........................................................ 131

1984 ......................................................... 133

166) Vega 1 ........................................................... 133
167) Vega 2 ........................................................... 134

1985 ......................................................... 137

168) Sakigake ........................................................ 137
169) Giotto ........................................................... 137
170) Suisei ........................................................... 138

1988 ......................................................... 141

171) Fobos 1 .......................................................... 141
172) Fobos 2 .......................................................... 142

1989 ......................................................... 143

173) Magellan ........................................................ 143
174) Galileo .......................................................... 145

1990 ......................................................... 149

175) Hiten/Hagomoro ................................................... 149
176) Ulysses .......................................................... 149

1992 ......................................................... 153

177) Mars Observer .................................................... 153

1994 ......................................................... 155

178) Clementine ....................................................... 155
179) Wind ............................................................ 157

1995 ......................................................... 159

180) SOHO ........................................................... 159
1996 ......................................................... 161
181 _ NEAR ........................................................... 161
182) Mars Global Surveyor .............................................. 163
183) Mars 8 .......................................................... 164
184) Mars Pathfinder ................................................... 165

1997 ......................................................... 169

185) ACE ............................................................ 169
186) Cassini/Huygens .................................................. 169
187) Asiasat 3 ........................................................ 170

1998 ......................................................... 1 73

188t Lunar Prospector .................................................. 173

1891 Nozomi .......................................................... 173
190) Deep Space 1 ..................................................... 174
191) Mars Climate Orbiter .............................................. 176

1999 ......................................................... 1 77

1927 Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2 ...................................... 177

193) Stardust ......................................................... 178

Master Table of All Deep Space, Luna_ and Planetary Probes, 1958-2000 ......... 179
1958 ............................................................... 181
1959 ............................................................... 181
1960 ................................................................ 181
1961 ................................................................ 182
1962 ................................................................ 182
1963 ................................................................ 182
1964 ................................................................ 183
1965 ................................................................ 183
1966 ................................................................ 184
1967 ................................................................ 184
1968 ................................................................ 185
1969 ................................................................ 186
1970 ................................................................ 186
1971 ................................................................ 187
1972 ................................................................ 187
1973 ................................................................ 188
1974 ................................................................ 188
1975 ................................................................ 188
1976 ................................................................ 188
1977 ................................................................ 189
1978 ................................................................ 189
1981 ................................................................ 189
1983 ................................................................ 189
1984 ................................................................ 189
1985 ................................................................ 190
1988 ................................................................ 190
1989 ................................................................ 190
1990 ................................................................ 190
1992 ................................................................ 190
1994 ................................................................ 190
1995 ................................................................ 191
 1996 ................................................................ 191
1997 ................................................................ 191
1998 ................................................................ 191
1999 ................................................................ 192

Program Tables .................................................. 193

Appendices ..................................................... 207

Bibliography .................................................... 217

About the Author ................................................. 223

The NASA History Series ............................................ 227

Index ......................................................... 237

........ Table of Contenls

 Foreword
From the 1950s to the present, to some and asteroids, have been visited. We have
Americans, space has represented prestige placed spacecraft in orbit around our Moon
and a positive image for the United States on and the planets Venus, Mars, and Jupiter; we
the world stage. To others, it has signified have landed on Venus, Mars, and our Moon.
the quest for national security. Some view it NASA's stunning missions to explore the
as a place to station telecommunications outer Solar System have yielded a treasure of
satellites and little else. To still others, space know/edge about our universe, how it origi-
is, or should be, about gaining greater knowl- nated, and how it works. NASA's exploration
edge of the universe. It represents, for them, of Mars--coupled with the efforts of the
pure science and the exploration of the Soviet Union/Russia--has powerfully shown
unknown. Even so, the history of space sci- the prospect of past life on the Red Planet.
ence and technology is one of the largely neg- Missions to Venus (including some that
lected aspects in the history of the space landed on it) and Mercury have increased our
program. This important monograph by Asif understanding of the inner planets. Lunar
A. Siddiqi chronicles the many space probes exploration has exponentially advanced
that have been sent from Earth to explore human knowledge about the origins and evo-
other bodies of the solar system. It provides lution of the solar system. Most importantly,
a chronological discussion of all space we have learned that, like Goldilocks and the
probes, both those developed by the United three bears, Earth is a place in which every-
States and those developed by the Soviet thing necessary to sustain life is "just right,"
Union/Russia and other nations; basic data while all the other planets of our system
about them; their findings; and their status seem exceptionally hostile.
over time. As such, this monograph is a
handy reference work that will provide fun- Planetary exploration has not taken place by
damental data for all missions undertaken magic. It required visionary leadership,
during the twentieth century. strong-willed management, and persevering
execution. Like NASA and other aspects of
Since the first flights discussed here, every the space program, it began as a race
planet of the solar system has been explored between the United States and the Soviet
in a modest way at least once (save Pluto), Union to see who would be the first to get
and several of the moons of planetary bodies some sort of spacecraft near the Moon. It
(including our own}, as well as some comets expanded in the 1960s when space science

" " ] i - i Forward

 first became a major field of study. During more since astronomers realized that it was
that decade, both the United States and the shrouded in a mysterious cloak of clouds per-
Soviet Union began an impressive effort to manently hiding the surface from view. As a
gather information on the planets of the solar further attraction, it was also the closest
system using ground-, air-, and space-based planet to Earth and a near twin to this planet
equipment. Especially important was the cre- in terms of size, mass, and gravitation.
ation of two types of spacecraft, one a probe
that was sent toward a heavenly body, and After ground-based efforts in 1961 to view
the second an Earth-orbiting observatory the planet using radar, which could see
that could gain the clearest resolution avail- through the clouds, and after learning,
able in telescopes because it did not have to among other things, that Venus rotated in a
contend with the atmosphere. retrograde motion opposite from the direction
of orbital motion, both the Soviet Union and
The studies resulting from this new data the United States began a race to the planet
have revolutionized humanity's under- with several robotic spacecraft. The United
standing of Earth's immediate planetary States claimed the first success in planetary
neighbors. These studies of the planets, per- exploration during the summer of 1962, when
haps as much even as Project Apollo, cap- Mariner 1 and Mariner 2 were launched
tured the imagination of people from all toward Venus. Although Mariner 1 was lost
backgrounds and perspectives. Photographs during a launch failure, Mariner 2 flew by
of the planets and theories about the origins Venus on 14 December 1962 at a distance of
of the solar system appealed to a very broad 34,827 kilometers. It probed the clouds, esti-
cross section of the public. As a result, NASA mated planetary temperatures, measured the
had little difficulty in capturing and holding charged particle environment, and looked for
a widespread interest in this aspect of the a magnetic field similar to Earth's magnetos-
space science program. phere (but found none). After this encounter,
Mariner 2 sped inside the orbit of Venus and
Exploration of the Terrestrial (Inner) eventually ceased operations on 3 January
Planets 1963, when it overheated. In 1967, the United
States sent Mariner 5 to Venus to investigate
During the 1960s, NASA space science the atmosphere. Both spacecraft demon-
focused much of its efforts on lunar missions strated that Venus was a very inhospitable
with projects Ranger, Surveyor, and Lunar place for life to exist and determined that the
Orbiter. Even so, a centerpiece of NASA's entire planet's surface was a fairly uniform
planetary exploration effort in that era was 425 degrees Celsius. This discovery refuted
the Mariner program, originated by NASA in the probability that life--at least as humans
the early part of the decade to investigate the understood it--existed on Venus.
nearby planets. Built by Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) scientists and technicians, The most significant mission to Venus began
satellites of this program proved enormously in 1989 when the Magellan spacecraft set out
productive in visiting both Mars and Venus. for Venus to map the surface from orbit with
imaging radar. This mission followed the
Mariner made a huge impact in the early Pioneer Venus 1 spacecraft that had been
1960s as part of a race between the United orbiting the planet for more than a decade
States and the Soviet Union to see who would and had completed a low-resolution radar
be the first to reach Venus. This goal was topographic map, and Pioneer Venus 2, which
more than just an opportunity to beat the had dispatched heat-resisting probes to pene-
rival in the Cold War; scientists in both the trate the atmosphere and communicate infor-
United States and the Soviet Union recog- mation about the surface, Venus's dense
nized the attraction of Venus for the further- clouds, and the 425°C temperature. It also
ance of planetary studies. Both the evening built on the work of the Soviet Union, which
and the morning star, Venus had long had compiled radar images of the northern
enchanted humans, and it has done so all the part of Venus and had deployed balloons into

_Deep Space Chronicle

the Venusian atmosphere. Magellan arrived 4,000 kilometers long and 5.6 kilometers

at Venus in September 1990 and mapped 99 deep. As the dust settled, meandering "rivers"
percent of the surface at high resolution, parts appeared, indicating that, at some time in the
of it in stereo. The amount of digital imaging past, fluid flowed on Mars. Suddenly, Mars
data the spacecraft returned was more than fascinated scientists, reporters, and the
twice the sum of all returns from previous public.
missions. This data provided some surprises,
among them the discovery that plate tectonics Project Viking represented the culmination of
was at work on Venus and that lava flows a series of missions to explore Mars that had
clearly showed the evidence of volcanic begun in 1964. The Viking mission used two
activity. In 1993, at the end of the mission, identical spacecraft, each consisting of a
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory shut down lander and an orbiter. Launched on 20 August

the major functions of the Magellan space- 1975 from the Kennedy Space Center IKSC},
craft and scientists turned their attention to a Florida, Viking 1 spent nearly a year cruising
detailed analysis of its data. to Mars, placed an orbiter in operation around
the planet, and landed on 20 July 1976 on the
Mars has attracted significant attention from Chryse Planitia (Golden Plains). Viking 2 was
the beginning of the space age. An attraction launched on 9 September 1975 and landed on
yet to be relinquished by most planetary sci- 3 September 1976. The primary mission of the
entists, Mars prompted many missions. In Viking project ended on 15 November 1976,
July 1965, Mariner 4 flew by Mars and took eleven days before Mars's superior conjunc-
21 close-up pictures. Mariners 6 and 7, tion (its passage behind the Sun), although
launched in February and March 1969, the Viking spacecraft continued to operate for
respectively, each passed Mars in August six years after first reaching Mars. The last
1969, studying its atmosphere and surface to transmission from the planet reached Earth
lay the groundwork for an eventual landing on 11 November 1982.

on the planet. Their pictures verified the

Moon-like appearance of Mars and gave no Since the Viking landings, there have been
hint that Mars had ever been able to support several missions to Mars seeking to further

life. Among other discoveries, these probes unlock its mysteries. These were energized in
found that much of Mars was cratered almost 1996 when a team of NASA and Stanford

like the Moon, that volcanoes had once been University scientists announced that a Mars
active on the planet, that the frost observed meteorite found in Antarctica contained pos-

seasonally on the poles was made of carbon sible evidence of ancient Martian life. When

dioxide, and that huge plates indicated con- the 1.9-kilogram, potato-sized rock, labeled
siderable tectonic activity. Mariner 9, sched- ALH84001, was formed as an igneous rock
uled to enter Martian orbit in November about 4.5 billion years ago, Mars was much

1971, detected a chilling dust storm warmer and probably contained oceans hos-
spreading across Mars; by mid-October dust pitable to life. Then, about 15 million years
obscured almost all of Mars. Mariner 9's first ago, a large asteroid hit the Red Planet and

pictures showed a featureless disk, marred jettisoned the rock into space, where it
only by a group of black spots in a region remained until it crashed into Antarctica

known as Nix Olympia (Snows of Olympusk around 11,000 B.C.E. The scientists presented
As the dust storm subsided, the four spots three compelling, but not conclusive, pieces of
emerged out of the dust cloud to become the evidence that suggest that fossil-like remains
remains of giant extinct volcanoes dwarfing of Martian micro-organisms that date back
anything on Earth. Olympus Mons, the 3.6 billion years are present in ALH84001.
largest of the four, was 483 kilometers across These findings electrified the scientific world,
at the base with a 72-kilometer-wide crater in but they excited the public just as fully and
the top. Rising 32 kilometers from the sur- added support for an aggressive set of mis-
rounding plane, Olympus Mons was three sions to Mars by the year 2000 to help dis-
times the height of Mt. Everest. Later pic- cover the truth of these theories.

tures showed a canyon, Valles Marineris,

Foreword
 The United States has undertaken several entists compared those features to those left
missions since then, including the hugely by flash floods on Earth.
popular Mars Pathfinder. After launch in
December 1996, it sped to Mars and landed Everyone agreed that the presence of liquid
on 4 July 1997. There, a small, 10.4-kilogram water on Mars would have profound implica-
robotic rover named Sojourner departed from tions for the question of life on Mars. NASA's
the main lander and began to record weather Associate Administrator for Space Science,
patterns, atmospheric opacity, and the chem- Ed Weiler, commented, "If life ever did
ical composition of rocks washed down into develop there, and if it survives to the present
the Ares Vallis flood plain, an ancient outflow time, then these landforms would be great
channel in Mars's northern hemisphere. places to look." The gullies observed in the
Pathfinder returned more than 1.2 gigabits images were on cliffs--usually in crater or
(1.2 billion bits) of data and over 10,000 tan- va]ley walls--and showed a deep channel
talizing pictures of the Martian landscape. with a collapsed region at its upper end and
The images from both craft were posted to at the other end an area of accumulated
the Internet, and individuals retrieved infor- debris that appeared to have been trans-
mation about the mission more than 500 mil- ported down the slope. Relative to the rest of
lion times through the end of July 1997. the Martian surface, the gullies appeared to
be extremely young, meaning they may have
Another mission reached Mars on 11 formed in the recent past. It is possible, sci-
September 1997, when the Mars Global entists said, that water could be about 90
Surveyor, launched in December 1996, meters to 400 meters below the surface of

entered orbit. That spacecraft's magneto- Mars. Some scientists have been skeptical of
meter soon detected the existence of a plane- these claims, but all agree that the only way
tary magnetic field. This held important to find out what is truly present is to send
implications for the geological history of additional missions to Mars.
Mars and for the possible development and
continued existence of life there. Planets like Exploration of the Jovian (Outer)
Earth, Jupiter, and Saturn generate their Planets
magnetic fields by means of a dynamo made
up of moving molten metal at the core. A As the heady spaceflight projects of the
molten interior suggests the existence of 1960s--culminating in the lunar exploration
internal heat sources that could give rise to effort--suffered from more constrained
volcanoes and a flowing crust responsible for budgets in the 1970s, NASA's most ambitious
moving continents over geologic time periods. planetary science expedition was hatched
amongst its leadership. Once every 176 years,
These missions, coupled with others, began to the giant planets on the outer reaches of the
create a new portrait of the Martian environ- solar system gather on one side of the Sun,
ment through the analysis of data relating to and such a configuration was due to occur in
weather patterns, atmospheric opacity, and the late 1970s. This geometric line-up made
the chemical composition of rocks washed possible close-up observation of all the
down into the Ares Vallis flood plain. Despite planets in the outer solar system (with the
significant setbacks to the Mars exploration exception of Pluto) in a single flight, the so-
program with the failure of two missions in called "Grand Tour." The flyby of each planet
1999, scientific returns from the Mars Global would bend the spacecraft's flight path and
Surveyor reenergized interest in the planet. increase its velocity enough to deliver it to
In what may prove a landmark discovery, sci- the next destination. This would occur
entists announced on 22 June 2000 that fea- through a complicated process known as
tures obsmwed on the planet suggested that "gravity-assist," something like a slingshot
there may be sources of liquid water at or effect, whereby the flight time to Neptune
near the surface. The new images showed the could be reduced from thirty to twelve years.
smallest features ever observed from
Martian orbit--the size of an SUV. NASA sci-

_-E)eep -Space Chronicle ..........

 In 1964, to prepare the way for the "Grand were funded to conduct intensive flyby studies
Tour," NASA conceived Pioneers 10 and 11 as only of Jupiter and Saturn, in effect repeating
outer-solar-system probes. Although severe on a more elaborate scale the flights of the
budget constraints prevented the commence- two Pioneers. Even so, the spacecrat_ builders
ment of the project until the fall of 1968 and designed as much longevity into the two
forced a somewhat less ambitious effort, Voyagers as possible with the $865-million
Pioneer 10 was launched on 3 March 1972. It budget available. NASA launched these from
arrived at Jupiter on the night of 3 December Cape Canaveral, Florida; Voyager 2 lifted off'
1973, and while many were concerned that on 20 August 1977, and Voyager 1 entered
the spacecraft might fall prey to intense radi- space on a faster, shorter trajectory on 5
ation discovered in Jupiter's orbital plane, September 1977.
the spacecraft survived, transmitted data
about the planet, and continued on its way As the mission progressed, with the suc-
out of the solar system, away from the center cessful achievement of all its objectives at
of the Milky Way galaxy. By May 1991, it was ,Jupiter and Saturn, additional flybys of the
about 52 astronomical units (AU) from Earth, two outermost giant planets, Uranus and
roughly twice the distance from Jupiter to Neptune, proved possible--and irresistible--
the Sun, and still transmitting data. to mission scientists. Accordingly, as the
spacecraft flew across the solar system,
In 1973, NASA launched Pioneer 11, pro- remote-control reprogramming was used to
viding scientists with their closest view of prepare the Voyagers for the greater mission.
Jupiter, from 42,800 kilometers above the Eventuall3; between them, Voyager 1 and
cloud tops in December 1974. The close Voyager 2 explored all the giant outer
approach and the spacecraft's speed of planets, forty-eight of their moons, and the
172,800 kph, by far the fastest ever reached unique systems of rings and magnetic fields
by an object from Earth, hurled the Pioneer those planets possess.
11 spacecraft 2.4 billion kilometers across the
solar system. In 1979, Pioneer 11 encountered The two spacecraft returned information to
Saturn, closing to within 20,900 kilometers of Earth that revolutionized solar system sci-
the planet, where it discovered two new moon- ence, helped to resolve some key questions,
lets and a new ring and charted the magne- and raised intriguing new ones about the
tosphere, its magnetic field, its climate and origin and evolution of the planets. The two
temperatures, and the general structure of Voyagers took well over 100,000 images of
Saturn's interior. In 1990, it officially the outer planets, rings, and satellites, as
departed the solar system by passing beyond well as millions of magnetic, chemical
Pluto and headed into interstellar space spectra, and radiation measurements. They
toward the center of the Milky Way galaxy. discovered rings around Jupiter, volcanoes on
Both Pioneers 10 and 11 were remarkable Io, shepherded satellites in Saturn's rings,
space probes; they stretched a thirty-month new moons around Uranus and Neptune, and
design life cycle into a mission of more than geysers on Triton. The last sequence of
twenty years and returned useful data, not images was Voyager l's portrait of most of the
only about the other Jovian planets of the solar system, showing Earth and six other
solar system, but also about some of the mys- planets as sparks in a dark sky lit by a single
teries of the interstellar universe. bright star, the Sun.

Meanwhile, NASA technicians prepared to It was nearly two decades after Voyager before
launch what became known as Voyager. any spacecraft ventured to the outer solar
Although the four-planet mission was known system again. In October 1989, NASA's Galileo
to be possible, it quickly became too expensive spacecraft began a gravity-assisted journey to
to build a spacecraft that could go the dis- ,Jupiter and sent a probe into the atmosphere
tance, carry the instruments needed, and last that obseI_,ed the planet and its satellites for
long enough to accomplish such an extended several years beginning in December 1995.
mission. Thus, the two Voyager spacecraft Jupiter was of great interest to scientists

. Foreword
 because it appeared to contain material in its revealed that Europa may harbor "warm ice" or
original state left over from the formation of even liquid water--a key element in life-
the solar system, and the mission was sustaining environments. Many scientists and
designed to investigate the chemical composi- science fiction writers have speculated that
tion and physical state of Jupiter's atmosphere Europa--in addition to Mars and Saturn's
and satellites. Because of a unique orbital moon Titan--is one of the three planetary
inclination that sent the probe around the Sun bodies in this solar system that might possess,
and back on the way to Jupiter, Galileo came or may have possessed, an environment where
back past both Venus and Earth, made the primitive life existed. Galileo's photos of
first close flyby of asteroid Gaspra in 1991, and Europa were taken during a flyby of
provided scientific data on all. But the mission Ganymede some 154,500 kilometers away from
was star-crossed. Soon after Galileo's deploy- Europa. They revealed what appeared to be ice
ment from the Space Shuttle, NASA engineers floes similar to those seen on Earth's polar
learned that Galileo's umbrella-like high-gain regions. The pictures also revealed giant cracks
antenna could not be fully deployed. Without in Europa's ice where warnl-water "environ-
this antenna, communication with the space- mental niches" may exist. In early 1997,
craft was both more difficult and more time- Galileo discovered icebergs on Europa, a dis-
consuming, and data transmission was greatly covery that lent credence to the possibility of
hampered. The engineering team that worked hidden, subsurface oceans. These findings gen-
on the project tried a series of cooling exercises erated new questions about the possibility of
designed to shrink the antenna central tower life on Europa. While NASA scientists stressed
and enable its deployment. that the data did not conclusively prove any-
thing, they thought the images exciting, com-
In mid-1995, Galileo deployed the probe that pelling, and suggestive. They called for a
would parachute into Jupiter's dense atmos- concerted effort to send a lander to Europa to
phere. The two spacecraft then flew in forma- burrow through the ice to reach water beneath.
tion the rest of the way to Jupiter, and while
the probe began its descent into the atmos- NASA's 2000-01 Near Earth Asteroid
phere, the main spacecraft went into a trajec- Rendezvous (NEAR) mission to the asteroid
tory that placed it in a near-circular orbit. On Eros achieved excellent results. NEAR was the
7 December 1995, the probe began its first spacecraft to orbit an asteroid. In one
descent. Its instruments began relaying data year it met all of its scientific goals while
back to the orbiter about chemical composi- orbiting the asteroid Eros, and then it under-
tion; the nature of the cloud particles and took a controlled descent to the surface of the
structure of the cloud layers; the atmos- asteroid on 12 February 2001. The chief goal of
phere's radiative heat balance, pressure, and the controlled descent was to gather close-up
dynamics; and the ionosphere. The probe pictures of the boulder-strewn surface of 433
lasted for about 45 minutes, during which it Eros, more than 315.4 million kilometers from
stored and returned the data, before the Earth. During its five-year, 3.2-billion-kilo-
atmosphere and the pressure of the planet meter journey, the NEAR mission provided the
destroyed it. For months thereafter, because most detailed profile yet of a small celestial
the high-gain antenna was inoperative, scien- bod): It began a yearlong orbit of Eros on 14
tists and technicians coaxed the data back to February 2000 and collected ten times more
Earth for analysis. Today, Galileo continues data than originally planned. The data include
to transmit scientific measurements back to a detailed model culled from more than 11 rail-
Earth. The result has brought a reinterpreta- lion laser pulses; radar and laser data on
tion of human understanding about Jupiter Eros's weak gravity and solid but cracked inte-
and its moons. rior; x-ray, gamma-ray, and infrared readings
on its composition and spectral properties; and
Most significant in terms of results has been about 160,000 images covering all of the 34-
the discovery of a frozen ocean of water cov- kilometer bouldered, cratered, dusty-terrain
ering Europa, one of the principal moons of asteroid.
Jupiter. On 13 August 1996, data from Galileo
Finally,in 1997,NASAlaunched theCassini NEAR spacecraft orbit of Eros in February
spacecraft onits voyage to Saturn.In some 2000.

respects asisterspacecrafttotheremarkable
GalileovehicleatJupiter,thisspacecraft will • A discussion, with results, of planet flybys
lingerforseveral yearscollecting allmanner introduces attempts on Mars, Jupiter,
ofdataaboutSaturnandits moons. Onceit Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune.
arrivesin2003, Cassiniis expected toprovide
a similar levelof stunningscientificdata • A detailed bibliography is enclosed, and the
abouttheSaturninesystem to therichhar- author highly recommends Andrew Wilson's
vestthatGalileobroughttothehumanrace Solar System Log for more details regarding
aboutJupiteranditsmoons. particular missions.

Conclusion We are pleased to publish Asif A. Siddiqi's

monograph on all planetary missions under-
The Deep Space Chronicle provides a ready taken during the twentieth century. He is
reference of deep space missions attempted also the author of the recently published
since the opening of the space age in 1957 pathbreaking book Challenge to Apollo: The
and documents the development, testing, and Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945-1974
implementation of robotic spacecraft. Here (NASA SP-2000-4408). He has created in
are a few of its features: Deep Space Chronicle a factual reference
source that will prove useful to all who are
• A list of significant "firsts" takes readers interested in planetary exploration.
from the American Able 1 lunar probe in
August 1958, to the Russian Mars 2 space-
craft impact on Mars in November 1971, to Roger D. Launius
the American Sojourner's wheeled touch- NASA Chief Historian
down on Mars in 1997, to the American
 Introduction
This monograph contains brief descriptions 2) Any probe that was deliberately sent to
of all robotic deep space missions attempted heliocentric (solar) orbit without a plane-
since the opening of the space age in 1957. tary encounter.
The missions are listed strictly chronologi-
cally in order of launch date {not by planetary 3) Any probe that was sent into a halo orbit
encounter). around the L1 libration point {about 1.5
million kilometers from Earth), where
Different people have different criteria for Earth's and the Sun's gravitational
which kind of spacecraft to include in a list of forces are exactly equal.
"deep space probes." In the list that follows, I
have included all robotic spacecraft that sat- 4) Any probe that was launched as part of a
isfied the following guidelines: lunar or planetary program into deep
space li.e., at least to lunar distance) in
1) Any probe that was launched to an order to simulate a deep-space trajectory
"encounter" with a "planetary body." (such as Zond 4 and a few early Surveyor
Model mockups!.
Encounters include the following:
a) flybys, I have included probes whether they suc-
bl orbiting, ceeded in their objectives or not. Thus, some
c) atmospheric entry and impacts, and probes never got more than a few meters
d) soft-landing. beyond the launch pad, while others have
already left the solar system.
Planetary bodies include the following:
a) Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, From the launch of Sputnik in 1957 until the
Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto; late 1980s, the Soviet Union never
b) Earth's Moon; announced a mission that failed to reach
c) asteroids; Earth orbit. For deep space payloads that
d) natural satellites of the planets and reached Earth orbit but were stranded there,
asteroids; and they did not make an announcement of any
e) comets. kind until 1963. Beginning with Kosmos 21
in November 1963, the Soviets assigned
Kosmos numbers to deep space payloads that

..... Introduction
remained stranded in Earth orbit. Since such In terms of the mission descriptions, I have
failed missions had no designation, I thought kept the focus on mission events rather than
it useful to provide a quick indication to scientific results. Mission descriptions have
readers of what these missions were about. been kept relatively short and to the point;
For Soviet missions where no name was readers interested in learning more details
assigned, the type of mission is bracketed I 1. about particular missions are encouraged to
The designation inside the bracket denotes search the sources listed in the bibliogra-
the class of the mission, such as Imna, Mars, phies. I would particularly recommend
Venera, Zond, or N1 flight test. Andrew Wilson's Solar System Log for deep
space missions up to the mid-1980s.
Additionally, some U.S. mission names
appear in quotation marks ("Pioneer 0") to All spacecraft masses listed in the statistical
indicate unofficial names (that is, not tables are masses at launch.
assigned by NASA or assigned retroactively
by NASA). Many thanks to Roger D. Launius, NASA's
Chief Historian, for his support in facilitating
For statistical data on U.S. probes (such as this monograph. I acknowledge, too, the aid of
launch vehicle numbers, launch times, list his staff in the History Office at NASA
of instruments), I have used, as much as Headquarters, especially Louise Alstork and
possible, original NASA sources such as Stephen Garber. I also thank Lisa Jirousek
press kits and postflight mission reports, and Joel Vendette for their attention to detail
Because in many cases there exist wildly while proofing, editing, and designing this
contradictory data leven within NASA), I manuscript. Special thanks go out to Anoo
have corroborated statistical data from Raman.
other nongovernmental published sources.
Every attempt has been made to present Asif A. Siddiqi
accurate information, but with a project of
this size, there will naturally be errors.
Corrections are welcome.

Deep Space C-hronicJe -__ .... i -- - _ .... "

Deep Space Chronicle:
 1958
1) TX-8-6 solid propellant motor would fire to
Able 1 / "Pioneer 0" insert the vehicle into orbit around the Moon.
Nation: U.S. (11 Altitude would have been 29,000 kilometers
0bjective(s): lunar orbit with an optimal lifetime of about two weeks.
Spacecraft: Able 1 The actual mission, however, lasted only 77
Spacecraft Mass: 38 kg seconds after the Thor first stage exploded at
Mission Design and Management: USAF / BMD 15.2 kilometers altitude. The upper stages hit
Launch Vehicle: Thor-Able 1 (Thor no. 127) the Atlantic about 123 seconds later.
Launch Date and Time: 17 August 1958 / 12:18 UT Investigators concluded that the accident had
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17A been caused by a turbopump gearbox failure.
Scientific Instruments: The mission has been retroactively known as
1) magnetometer "Pioneer 0."
2) micrometeoroid detector
3) temperature sensors 2)
4) infrared camera no name / [Luna]
Results: This mission was the first of two U.S. Nation: USSR (1)
Air Force (USAF) launches to the Moon and 0bjective(s): lunar impact
the first attempted deep space launch by any Spacecraft: Ye-1 Ino. 1)
country. The Able 1 spacecraft, a squat, con- Spacecraft Mass: c. 360 kg (with upper stage)
ical, fiberglass structure, carried a crude Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
infrared TV scanner. This device was a simple Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. B1-3)
thermal radiation device comprising a small Launch Date and Time: 23 September 1958 /
parabolic mirror for focusing reflected light 09:03:23 UT
from the lunar surface onto a cell that would Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1

transmit voltage proportional to the light it Scientific Instruments:

received. Engineers painted a pattern of dark 1) three-component magnetometer

and light stripes on the spacecraft's outer sur- 2) two gas discharge counters
face to regulate internal temperature. The 31 piezoelectric detector
spacecraft was also disinfected with ultravi- 4) scintillation counter
olet light prior to launch. According to the 5) ion traps
ideal mission profile, Able 1 was designed to Results: The Soviet government approved a
reach the Moon 2.6 days after launch; then the modest plan for initial exploration of the
Moonin March1958. Engineers conceivedof During the mission, the Thor second stage
four initial probes,the Ye-1(for lunar shut down 10 seconds early due to incorrect
impact),Ye-2Ito photograph thefar sideof information from an accelerometer meas-
theMoonh Ye-3(tophotograph thefarsideof uring incremental velocity. The launch
theMoon), andYe-4{for lunar impact with a vehicle thus imparted insufficient velocity for
nuclear explosion). The Ye-1 was a simple the probe to escape the Earth's gravity. An
probe, a pressurized spherical object made attempt to insert the spacecraft into high-
from aluminum-magnesium alloy, approxi- Earth orbit at 128,700 x 32,200 kilometers by
mately the size of the first Sputnik, that car- using its retromotor failed because internal
ried five scientific instruments. The goals of temperatures had fallen too much for the bat-
the mission were to study the gas component teries to provide adequate power. The probe
of interplanetary matter (using the proton did, however, reach an altitude of 115,400
traps), meteoric particles and photons in kilometers by 11:42 UT, verifying the exis-
cosmic radiation (using the piezoelectric tence of the Van Allen belts and returning
detectors), the magnetic fields of the Moon other useful data before reentering 43 hours
and Earth iusing the magnetometer), varia- 17 minutes after launch. Investigators later
tions in cosmic ray intensity, and heavy concluded that an accelerometer had mistak-
nuclei in primary cosmic radiation. The enly cut off the Able stage because of an
probe (on its upper stage) also carried one incorrect setting of a valve. The mission has
kilogram of natrium to create an artificial been retroactively known as "Pioneer 1."
comet on the outbound trajectory that could
be photographed from Earth. During the 4)
first Ye-1 launch, the booster developed lon- no name / [Luna]
gitudinal resonant vibrations on the strap-on Natron:USSR (2)
boosters of the launch vehicle. The rocket Objective(s): lunar impact
eventually disintegrated at T+93 seconds, Spacecraft: Ye-1 (no. 2)
destroying its payload. Spacecraft Mass: c. 360 kg (with upper stage)
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
3) Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. B1-4)
Able 2 t "Pioneer 1" Launch Date and Time: 11 October 1958 /
Nation: U.S. (2) 23:41:58 UT
0biective(s): lunar orbit Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
Spacecraft: Able 2 Scientific Instruments:
SpacecraH Mass: 38.3 kg 1) three-component magnetometer
Mission Design and Management: AFBMD / 2) two gas-discharge counters
NASA 3) piezoelectric detector
Launch Vehicle: Thor-Able i (no. 1 / Thor no. 4) scintillation counter
130 / DM-1812-6) 5) ion traps
Launch Date and Iime: 11 October 1958 / 08 Results: The second attempt to impact the
42:13 UT Moon failed when, again, the probe never left
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17A Earth's atmosphere. The launch vehicle
Scientific Instruments: exploded at T+ 104 seconds due to longitudinal
1) ionization chamber resonant vibrations in the strap-on boosters.
2! magnetometer
3) micrometeoroid detector 5)
4) NOTS infrared imaging system Pioneer 2

5) temperature sensor Nation: U.S. (3)

Results: Although the USAF actually con- Objective(s): lunar orbit
ducted the mission, this was the first U.S. Spacecraft: Able 3
space mission under the aegis of the recently Spacecraft Mass: 39.6 kg
formed National Aeronautics and Space Mission Design and Management: USAF BMD
Administration (NASA). The spacecraft was NASA
very similar in design to the Able 1 probe.
Launch Vehicle: Thor-Able I (no. 2/Thor no. Results: This mission was the third failure in a
129 / DM-1812-6) row in Soviet attempts to send a Ye-1 lunar
Launch Date and Time: 8 November 1958 / impact probe to the Moon. The thrust level of
07:30 UT the core engine of the R-7 booster dropped
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17A abruptly at T+245 seconds, leading eventually
Scientific Instruments: to premature engine cutoff. The payload never
1) ionization chamber reached escape velocity. Later investigation
2) magnetometer showed that a pressurized seal cooling in the
3) temperature sensor hydrogen peroxide pump of the main engine
4) mierometeoroid sensor had lost integrity in vacuum conditions. The
5) proportional counter nmlfunction caused the main turbine to cease

6) imaging system working and thus led to engine failure.

Results: For this third Air Force launch of a

lunar orbiter, engineers introduced a number 7)

of changes to the Thor-Able launcher. The Pioneer 3

probe included a new TV scanner and a new Nation: U.S. (4)

type of battery, as well as a new cosmic-ray 0bjective(s): lunar flyby

telescope to study the Cherenkov Effect. Spacecraft: N/A
Pioneer 2, like its predecessors, never reached Spacecraft Mass: 5.87 kg
its target. A signal from the ground shut down Mission Design and Management: NASA / ABMA
the Thor launch vehicle's stage 2 earlier than / JPL

planned. Additionally, when the X-248 third- launch Vehicle: Juno II (no. AM-11)

stage engine separated, it failed to fire. As a Launch Date and Time: 6 December 1958 /

result, the probe burned up in Earth's atmos- 05:44:52 UT

phere only 45 minutes after launch. During kauncl_ Site: ETR / launch complex 5
its brief mission, it reached an altitude of Scientific Instruments:

1,550 kilometers and sent back data that sug- 1) photoelectric sensor trigger
gested that Earth's equatorial region had 2) two Geiger-Mueller counters
higher flux and energy levels than previously Results: This mission was the first of two U.S.

thought. The information also indicated that Army launches to the Moon. Pioneer 3 was a
mierometeoroid density was higher near spin-stabilized probe (up to 700 rpml whose pri-
Earth than in space. Investigators concluded maw goal was to fly by the Moon. Two special
that the third-stage engine had failed to tire 0.21-ounce weights were to spin out on 1.5-
because of a broken wire. meter wires and reduce spin to 12 rpm once the
mission was under way. The spacecraft cam'ied
6) an optical sensor to test a future inmging
no name / [Luna] system. If the sensor received, from a source
Nation: USSR (3) such as the Moon, a collimated bemn of light
Objective(s): lunar impact that was wide enough to pass through a lens
Spacecraft: Ye-1 (no. 3) and fall simultaneously on two phot(mells, then
Spacecraft Mass: c. 360 kg (with upper stage) the sensor would send a signal to switch on an
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 imaging system Inot carried on this spacecraft}.
Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. B1-5) In the event, the main booster engine shut
Launch Date and lime: 4 December 1958 / down 4 seconds earlier than planned due to pro-
18:18:44 UT pellant depletion. Once put on its trajectory,
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 Pioneer 3 was about 1,030 kilometers per hour
Scientitic Instruments: short of escape velocity. It eventually reached
1) three-component magnetometer 102,322 kilometers and burned up over Africa
2) two gas-discharge counters 38 hours 6 minutes after launch. The spacecraft
3) piezoelectric detector contributed to the major scientific discovery of
4) scintillation counter dual bands of radiation around Earth.

5) ion traps

1958 _"
 1959
8_
Cosmic Rocket/[Luna 1]
Nation: USSR (4)
Objective(s): lunar impact
Spacecraft: Ye-1 (no. 4)
Spacecraft Mass: 361.3 kg (with upper stage)
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. B1-6)
Launch Date and Time: 2 January 1959 /
16:41:21 UT
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
Scientific Instruments:
1) three-component magnetometer
2} two gas-discharge counters
3) piezoelectric detector
4) scintillation counter
5) ion traps
Results: Although this Soviet spacecraft was
the first humanmade object to reach escape
velocity, its trajectory was less than accu-
rate due to a problem in the guidance
system, and the probe missed its main
target, the Moon. The spacecraft (which,
with its launch vehicle, was referred to as
"Cosmic Rocket" in the Soviet press) even-
tually passed by the Moon at a distance of The first robotic explorer to the Moon, Luna 1.
6,400 kilometers about 34 hours following
launch. Before the flyby, at 00:57 UT on 3 Ground controllers lost contact with Cosmic
January 1959, the attached upper stage Rocket (retroactively named Luna 1 in
released one kilogram of natrium at a dis- 1963) approximately 62 hours after launch.
tance of 113,000 kilometers from Earth and The probe became the first spacecraft to
was photographed by astronomers on Earth. enter orbit around the Sun.
 flyby, Pioneer 4 was the first U.S. spacecraft to
reach escape velocity. During the launch, the
Sergeants of the second stage did not cut off on
time and caused the azimuths and elevation
angles of the trajectory to change. The space-
craft thus passed by the Moon at a range of
59,545 kilometers (instead of the planned
32,000 kilometers)--not close enough for the
imaging scanner to function. The closest
approach was at 10:25 UT on 4 March 1959,
The craft's tiny radio transmitted information
for 82 hours before contact was lost at a dis-
tance of 655,000 kilometers from Earth, the
greatest tracking distance for a humanmade
The Luna 3 spacecraft returned the first views ever of object to date. The probe eventually entered
the far side of the Moon. The first image was taken at heliocentric orbit and became the first
03:30 UT on 7 October at a distance of 65,200 kilo- American spacecraft to do so. Scientists
meters, after Luna 3 had passed the Moon and looked received excellent data on radiation in space.
back at the sunlit far side. The last image was taken
40 minutes later from 66,700 kilometers. Altogether, 10)
twenty-nine photographs were taken, covering 70 per- no name / [Luna]
cent of the far side_ The photographs were very noisy Nation: USSR (5)
and of low resolution, but many features could be rec- Objective(s): lunar impact
ognized. This was the first image returned by Luna 3; Spacecraft: Ye-IA (no. 5)
taken by the wide-angle lens, it showed that the far Spacecraft Mass: c. 390 kg (with upper stage)
side of the Moon was very different from the near Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
side, most noticeably in its lack of lunar maria (the Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. I1-7)

dark areas}. The right three-quarters oF the disk are the Launch Date and Time: 18 June 1959 / 08:08 UT

far side. The dark spat at upper right is Mare Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
Moscoviense; the dark area at lower left is Mare Scientific Instruments:

Smythii. The small dark circle at lower right with the 1) three-component magnetometer
white dot in the center is the crater Tsiolkovskiy and its 2) two gas-discharge counters
central peak. The Moon is 3,475 kilometers in diam- 3) piezoelectric detector
eter, and north is up in this image. 4) scintillation counter
5) ion traps
Results: The Soviet Ye-IA probe, like the Ye-1,
9) was designed for lunar impact. Engineers had
Pioneer 4 incorporated some minor modifications to the
Nation: U.S. (5) scientific instruments (a modified antenna
Objective(s): lunar flyby housing for the magnetometer, six instead of
Spacecraft: N/A four gas-discharge counters, and an improved
Spacecraft Mass: 6.1 kg piezoelectric detector) as a result of informa-
Mission Design and Management: NASA / ABMA tion received from the first Cosmic Rocket
/ JPL tLuna l) and the American Pioneer 4. The
Launch Vehicle: Juno II (no. AM-14) launch was originally scheduled for 16 June
Launch Date and Time: 3 March 1959 / but was postponed for two days as a result of
05:10:45 UT the negligence of a young lieutenant who inad-
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 5 vertently permitted fuelling of the upper stage
Scientific Instruments: with the wrong propellant. During the actual
1) photoelectric sensor trigger launch, one of the gyroscopes of the inertial
2) two Geiger-Mueller counters guidance system failed at T+153 seconds, and
Results: Although it did not achieve its primary the wayward booster was subsequently
objective to photograph the Moon during a destroyed by command from the ground.
 11) Launch Date and Time: 4 October 1959 /
Second Cosmic Rocket / tuna 2 00:43:40 UT
Nation: USSR (6) Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1

0bjective(s): lunar impact Scientific Instruments:

Spacecraft: Ye-IA (no. 7) 1) Yenisey-2 photographic-TV imaging
Spacecraft Mass: 390.2 kg (with upper stage) system
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 2) micrometeoroid detector
Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. I1-7b) 3! cosmic-ray detector
Launch Date and Time: 12 September 1959 / Results: This spacecraft, of the Ye-2A class,
06:39:42 UT was the first Soviet probe designed to take
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 pictures of the far side of the Moon using the
Scientific Instruments: Yenisey-2 imaging system (replacing the
1) three-component magnetometer Yenisey-1 used on the abandoned Ye-2 probe).
2) six gas-discharge counters The TV system consisted of a 35-mm camera
3) piezoelectric detector with two lenses of 200-mm (wide-angle) and
4) scintillation counter 500-ram (high-resolution) focal lengths and a
5} ion traps capacity to read up to 40 images. Strictly
Results: After an aborted launch on 9 speaking, the probe was not meant to reach
September, the Ye-IA probe successfully escape velocity; instead, the launch vehicle
lifted off and reached escape velocity three inserted the spacecraft, called the Automatic
days later. Officially named the "Second Interplanetary Station (AMS) in the Soviet
Soviet Cosmic Rocket," the spacecraft press, into a highly elliptical orbit around the
released its one kilogram of natrium on 12 Earth at 48,280 x 468,300 kilometers, suffi-
September at a distance of 156,000 kilome- cient to reach lunar distance. During the
ters from Earth in a cloud that expanded out coast to the Moon, the AMS suffered over-
to 650 kilometers in diameter and was clearly heating problems and poor communications,
visible from the ground. Fortunately, this but the vehicle eventually passed over the
sixth attempt at lunar impact was much Moon's southern polar cap at a range of 7,900
more accurate than its predecessors. The kilometers on 6 October before climbing up
spacecraft successfully reached the surface of over the Earth-Moon plane. At a distance of
the Moon at 23:02:23 UT on 14 September 65,200 kilometers from the Moon, on 7
1959, thus becoming the first object of human October, cameras began taking the first of 29
origin to make contact with another celestial pictures of the far side of the Moon. The
body. The probe's hnpact point was approxi- exposed film was then developed, fixed, and
mately at 30 ° north latitude and 0 ° longitude dried automatically, after which a special
on the slope of the Autolycus crater, east of light beam of up to 1,000 lines per image
Mare Serenitatis. tuna 2 (as it was called scanned the film for transmission to Earth.
after 1963) deposited Soviet emblems on the hnages were finally received the next day
lunar surface carried in 9 x 15-centimeter (after a few aborted attempts). Seventeen of
metallic spheres. The spacecraft's magne- the images were of usable quality and
tometer measured no significant lunar mag- showed parts of the Moon never before seen
netic field as close as 55 kilometers to the by human eyes. The spacecraft, named tuna
lunar surface. The radiation detectors also 3 after 1963, photographed about 70 percent
found no hint of a radiation belt. of the far side and found fewer mare areas on

the far side, prompting scientists to revise

12) their theories of lunar evolution.
Automatic Interplanetary Station / tuna 3
Nation: USSR (7) 13)
Objective(s): lunar flyby Able IVB / "Pioneer"
Spacecraft: Ye-2A (no. 1) Nation: U.S. (6)
Spacecraft Mass: 278.5 kg 0bjective(s): lunar orbit
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 Spacecraft: P-3 /Able IVB
Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. I1-8) Spacecraft Mass: 169 kg
Mission Design and Management: AFBMD / planners had redirected their missions
NASA after the success of the Soviet Luna 3 mis-
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Able (no. 1 / Atlas D no. sion. All the scientific experiments and
2O) internal instrumentation were powered by
Launch Date and Time: 26 November 1959 / nickel-cadmium batteries charged from
07:26 UT 1,100 solar cells on 4 paddles. Each probe
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 14 also carried an internal hydrazine monopro-
Scientific Instruments: pellant motor for lunar orbit insertion at a
1) high-energy radiation counter range of 8,000 kilometers from the Moon.
2) ionization chamber Ideal lunar orbital parameters were
3) Geiger-Mueller tube planned as 6,400 x 4,800 kilometers. The
4) low-energy radiation counter missions also inaugurated the first use of
5) two magnetometers the Atlas-with-an-upper-stage combination,
6) photo-scanning device affording increased payload weight. During
7) micrometeoroid detector this first launch, the nose fairing began to
8) aspect indicator break away just 45 seconds after liftoff.
9) radio receiver to detect natural radio Aerodynamic forces then caused the third
waves stage and payload to break away and explode.
10) transponder to measure electron The ground lost contact with the tumbling
densities booster at T+104 seconds. Investigation
Results: This mission used the first of four showed that the 3-meter fiberglass shroud
spacecraft designed by Space Technology failed because there had been no measures to
Laboratories for a lunar assault in 1959 and compensate for pressure differentials as the
1960; two of them had originally been slated rocket gained altitude.
for Venus orbit (in June 1959), but mission

Deep Space Chronicle ............... .__---_--'- .............. ".....

 1960
14) transmitter, with a 5-watt transmitter acting as
Pioneer 5 driver. Information rates varied from 64 to 8 to
Nation: U.S. (7) 1 bit per second. Controllers maintained contact
Objective(s): heliocentric orbit with Pioneer 5 until 26 June 1960, to a record
Spacecraft: P-2 / Able 6 distance of 36.2 million kilometers from Earth
Spacecraft Mass: 43.2 kg (later surpassed by Mariner 2). The probe,
Mission Design and Management: NASA GSFC / using its 18.1-kilogram suite of scientific instru-
USAF BMD ments, confirmed the existence of previously
Launch Vehicle: Thor-Able IV (no. 4 / Thor no. conjectured interplanetary magnetic fields.
219 / DM-1812-6A)
Launch Date and Time: 11 March 1960 / 15)
13:00:07 UT no name / [Luna]
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17A Nation: USSR (8)
Scientific Instruments: 0bjective(s): lunar farside photography
1) magnetometer Spacecraft: Ye-3 (no. 1)
2) ionization chamber Spacecraft Mass: unknown
3) Geiger-Mueller tube Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
4) micrometeoroid momentum Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. 1l-9)
spectrometer Launch Date and Time: 15 April 1960 /
5} photoelectric cell aspect indicator 15:06:44 UT
6) proportional counter telescope Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
Results: Launched on a direct solar orbit trajec- Scientific Instruments:
tory, Pioneer 5 successfully reached heliocentric 1) Yenisey-2 photographic-TVimaging
orbit between Earth and Venus to demonstrate system
deep space technologies and to provide the first 2) micrometeoroid detector
map of the interplanetary magnetic field. The 3) cosmic-ray detector
spacecraft had originally been intended for a Results: After the spectacular success of Luna 3,
Venus flyby, but the mission was switched to a this spacecraft was launched to return more
solar flyby. Pioneer 5 carried Telebit, the first detailed photos of the lunar far side. The Ye-3
digital telemetry system operationally used on class vehicle was essentially a Ye-2A probe
a U.S. spacecra_; it was first tested on Explorer using a modified radio-telemetry system, but
6. The system used a 5-watt or a 150-watt with the old Yenisey-2 imaging system. (A more
advanced Ye-3typewithanewimaging system 2) ionization chamber

had beenabandoned earlier.}Duringthe 3} Geiger-Mueller tube

launch,theprobereceived insufficient
velocity 4) low-energy radiation counter
afterpremature third-stage
engine cutoff.The 5} two magnetometers
spacecraft
reached analtitudeof200,000 kilo- 6) scintillation spectrometer
metersandthenfellbacktoEarthandburned 7) micrometeoroid detector
up in Earth'satmosphere, muchlikesomeof 8) plasma probe
theearlyAmerican Pioneer probes. 9) Sun scanner
Results: This probe, Able VA, had a slightly dif-
16) ferent instrument complement from that of its
no name / [Luna] predecessor Able IVB (launched in November
Nation: USSR (9) 1959), but it had similar mission goals. Able
0bjective(s): farside lunar photography VA was to enter lunar orbit about 62.5 hours
Spacecraft: Ye-3 (no. 2) after launch with parameters of 4,000 x 2,250
Spacecraft Mass: unknown kilometers in a period of 10 hours. During the
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 launch, although the first stage performed
Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. [l-9a) without problems, the Able second stage
Launch Date and Time: 19 April 1960 / ignited abnormally and shut down early
16:07:43 UT because of an oxidizer system failure. The
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 third stage never fired, and the probe burned
Scientific Instruments: up in Earth's atmosphere 17 minutes after
1) Yenisey-2 photographic-TV imaging launch. Although the mission was a failure,
system ground controllers fired Able VA's onboard
25 micrometeoroid detector liquid propellant hydrazine rocket engine--
3) cosmic-ray detector the first time that an onboard motor was fired
Results: This was the last of the "first-genera- on a space vehicle. Later, on 15 November
tion" Soviet probes to the Moon. Like its 1960, NASA announced that two objects from
immediate predecessor, it was designed to the Able VA payload had been found in
photograph the far side of the Moon. Transvaal, South Africa.
Unfortunately, the probe never left Earth's
atmosphere. Instead, immediately after 18)
launch_ at T+10 seconds, the launch vehicle no name / [Mars]
began to fall apart. As each strap-on fell Nation: USSR (105
away, parts of the booster landed separately Objective(s): Mars flyby
over a large area near the launch site. Spacecraft: 1M (no. 11
Thundering explosions broke windows in Spacecraft Mass: 480 kg
many nearby buildings. Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. L1-4M}
17_ Launch Oate and Time: 10 October 1960 /
Able VA / "Pioneer" 14:27:49 UT
Nation: U.S. (8) Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
0bjective(s): lunar orbit Scientific Instruments:
Spacecraft: P-30 / Able VA 1) ultraviolet spectrograph
Spacecraft Mass: 175.5 kg 2) radiation detector
Mission Design and Management: AFBMD / 3) cosmic-ray detector
NASA Results: This was the first of two Soviet Mars
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Able (no. 2 / Atlas D no. spacecraft intended to fly past Mars. It also
80} was the first attempt by humans to send
Launch Dale and Time: 25 September 1960 / spacecraft to the vicinity of Mars. Although
15:13 UT the spacecraft initially included a TV
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12 imaging system and a spectroreflectometer
Scientific Instruments: (to detect organic life on MarsL mass con-
1) high-energy radiation counter straints forced engineers to remove both
instruments a weekbeforelaunch.Themis- 20)
sionprofilecalledfortheprobetofirstenter Able VB / "Pioneer"
Earthorbitandthenusea newfourthstage Nation: U.S. (9)
(called"BlokL")to gainenoughadditional 0bjective(s): lunar orbit
velocityto fly to a Marsencounter. During Spacecraft: P-31 / Able VB
thelaunch,violentvibrations caused a gyro- Spacecraft Mass: 176 kg
scopetomalfunction. Asa result,thebooster Mission Design and Management: AFBMD /
begantoveerfromits plannedattitude.The NASA
guidance system failedatT+309seconds, and Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Able (no. 3/Atlas D no.
thethird-stageenginewasshutdownafter 91)
thetrajectorydeviated to a pitchof greater Launch Date and Time: 15 December 1960 /
than 7 degrees.The payloadeventually 09:10 UT
burnedup in Earth's atmosphereover Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12
easternSiberiawithoutreaching Earthorbit. Scientific Instruments:
The Mars flyby was planned for 13 May 1961. 1) micrometeoroid detector
2) high-energy radiation counter
19) 3) ionization chamber
no name / [Mars] 4) Ceiger-Mueller tube
Nation: USSR (11) 5) low-energy radiation counter
0blective(s): Mars flyby 6) two magnetometers
Spacecraft: 1M (no. 2) 7) Sun scanner
Spacecraft Mass: 480 kg 8) plasma probe
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 9) scintillation spectrometer
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. L1-5M) i0) solid state detector
Launch Date and Time: 14 October 1960 / Results: The mission of Able VB, as with its two
13:51:03 UT unsuccessful predecessors, was to enter lunar
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 orbit. Scientific objectives included studying
Scientific Instruments: radiation near the Moon, recording the inci-
1) ultraviolet spectrograph dence of micrometeoroids, and detecting a
2) radiation detector lunar magnetic field. Planned lunar orbital
3) cosmic-ray detector parameters were 4,300 x 2,400 kilometers with
Results: Like its predecessor, this spacecraft a period of 9 to i0 hours. The spacecraft had a
never reached Earth orbit. During the launch slightly different scientific instrument comple-
trajectory, there was a failure in the third- ment from that of its predecessors. This was
stage engine at T+290 seconds as a result of third and last attempt by NASA to launch a
frozen kerosene in the pipeline feeding its probe to orbit the Moon in the 1959M30 period.
turbopump (which prevented a valve from Unfortunately, the Atlas-Able booster exploded
opening). The third and fourth stages, along 68 seconds after launch at an altitude of about

with the payload, burned up over Earth's 12.2 kilometers. Later investigation indicated
atmosphere over eastern Siberia. The Mars that the cause was premature Able stage igni-
flyby had been planned for 15 May 1961. tion while the first stage was still firing.

- 1960
 1961
21) into Earth orbit, the fourth stage (the Blok
Tyazhelyy Sputnik / [Venera] L) never fired to send the spacecraft to
Nation: USSR (12) Venus. A subsequent investigation showed
0bjective(s): Venus impact that there had been a failure in the PT-200
Spacecraft: 1VA (no. 1) DC transformer that ensured power supply
Spacecraft Mass: c. 645 kg to the Blok L guidance system. The system
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 had evidently not been designed to work in
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. L1-7) a vacuum. The "spacecraft + upper-stage
Launch Date and Time: 4 February 196] / stack" reentered Earth's atmosphere on 26
01:18:04 UT February 1961. The Soviets announced the
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 total weight of the combination as 6,483
Scientific Instruments: kilograms.
1) three-component magnetometer
2) variometer 22)
3) charged-particle traps Venera
Results: This mission was the first attempt Nation: USSR (131
to send a spacecraft to Venus. Original 0blective(s): Venus impact
intentions had been to send the 1V space- Spacecraft: 1VA (no. 2)
craft to take pictures of the Venusian sur- Spacecraft Mass: 643.5 kg
face, but this proved to be far too ambitious Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
a goal. Engineers instead downgraded the Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. L1-6)
mission and used the 1VA spacecraft for a Launch Date and Time: 12 February 1961 /
simple Venus atmospheric entry. The 1VA 00:34:37 UT
was essentially a modified 1M spacecraft Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
used for Martian exploration. The space- Scientific Instruments:
craft contained a small globe containing 1) three-component magnetometer
various souvenirs and medals commemo- 2) variometer
rating the mission. This flight was also the 3) charged-particle traps
first occasion on which the Soviets used an Results: This was the second of two Venus
intermediate Earth orbit to launch a space- impact probes that the Soviets launched in
craft into interplanetary space. Although 1961. This time, the probe successfully
the booster successfully placed the probe exited Earth orbit and headed toward
Venus.Despitesomeinitial problemswith intended for operational Ranger flights and
thesolarorientation system, the spacecraft to study the nature of particles and fields
responded properly during a communica- in interplanetary space. Its intended orbit
tions session on 17 February 1961 at a dis- was 60,000 x 1.1 million kilometers. Ranger
tance of 1.9 million kilometers. Unfortunately, 1 was the first American spacecraft to use a
controllers were unable to regain contact parking orbit around Earth prior to its
during a subsequent communications deep space mission. In this case, the Agena
attempt on 22 February. A later investiga- B upper stage cut off almost immediately
tion indicated that the spacecraft had lost after its ignition for translunar injection
its "permanent" solar orientation due to a (instead of firing for 90 seconds). The probe
faulty optical sensor that malfunctioned remained stranded in low-Earth orbit (501
because of excess heat after the spacecraft's x 168 kilometers), and telemetry ceased by
thermal control system failed. The inert 27 August, when the main battery went
spacecraft eventually passed by Venus on dead. The spacecraft reentered Earth's
19 and 20 May 1961 at a distance of about atmosphere three days later. The cause of
100,000 kilometers and entered heliocen- the Agena failure was traced to a malfunc-
tric orbit. tioning switch that had prematurely
choked the flow the red fuming nitric acid
23) to the rocket engine.
Ranger 1
Nation: U.S. (10) 24)
0bjective(s): highly elliptical Earth orbit Ranger 2
Spacecraft: P-32 Nation: U.S. (11)

Spacecraft Mass: 306.18 kg 0bjective(s): highly elliptical Earth orbit

Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL Spacecraft: P-33
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena B (no. 1 / Atlas Spacecrafl Mass: 306.18 kg
D no. 111 / Agena B no. 6001) Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
Launch 0ate and Time: 23 August 1961 / Launch Vehicle: At]as-Agena B (no. 2 / Atlas
i0:04 UT D no. 117 /Agena B no. 6002)
Launch Site:ETR / launch complex 12 Launch Date and Time: 18 November 1961 /
Scientific Instruments: 08:12 UT
1) electrostatic analyzer Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12
2) photoconductive particle detectors Scientific Instruments:

3) Rubidium vapor magnetometer 1) electrostatic analyzer for solar

4) triple-coincidence cosmic-ray telescope plasma
5) cosmic-ray integrating ionization 2) photoconductive particle detectors
chamber 3) Rubidium vapor magnetometer
6} x-ray scintillation detectors 4) triple-coincidence cosmic-ray telescope
7) micrometeoroid dust particle 51 cosmic-ray integrating ionization
detectors chamber

8) Lyman alpha scanning telescope 6) x-ray scintillation detectors

Results: Ranger 1 was the first in a series of 7) micrometeoroid dust particle
standardized spacecraft designed to rough- detectors

land simple instrumented capsules on the 81 Lyman alpha scanning telescope

surface of the Moon and take photos of the Results: Like its predecessor, Ranger 2 was
lunar surface during its descent to the designed to operate in a highly elliptical
Moon. The spacecraft consisted of a tubular Earth orbit that would take it into deep space
central body connected to a hexagonal base beyond the Moon. Mission planners expected
containing basic equipment required for that during five months of operation, they
control and communications. Power was could verify both the technical design of the
provided by solar cells and a silver-zinc vehicle and conduct key scientific experi-
battery. Ranger l's specific mission was to ments to study the space environment over a
test performance of the new technologies prolonged period. Since the Block I Rangers
 Ranger 7 took this image of the Moon on 31 July 1964 at
13:09 UT (9:09 A.M. EDT), about 17 minutes before
impacting the lunar surface. The area photographed is
centered at 13 ° south latitude and 10° west longitude
and covers about 360 kilometers from top to bottom. The
large crater at center right is the 108-kilometer-diameter
AIphonsus. Above it is Ptolemaeus and below it Arzachel.
The terminator is at the bottom right corner. Mare Nubium
is at center and left. North is at about 11:00 at the center

af the frame. The Ranger 7 impact site is off the frame, to

the left of the upper left corner. (Ranger 7, BOO1) The
Ranger series of spacecraft were designed solely to take
high-quality pictures of the Moon and transmit them back to
Earth in real time. The images were to be used for scien-
tific study, as well as For selecting landing sites for the
Apollo Moon missions. Ranger 7 was the first of the
Ranger series to be entirely successful. It transmitted 4,308
high-quality images over the last 17 minutes of Flight, the final image having a resolution of 0.5 meters per pixel.
Ranger 7 was launched on 28 July 1964 and arrived at the Moon on 31 July 1964.

(Ranger 1 and 2) carried no rocket engine, probable cause of the failure was inoperation
they could not alter their trajectories. On this of the roll-control gyroscope on the Agena B
attempt, Ranger 2, like its predecessor, failed guidance system. As a result, the stage had
to leave low-Earth orbit. This time, the Agena used up all attitude-control propellant for its
B stage failed to fire. In its low orbit, Ranger first orbit insertion burn. At the time of the
2 lost its solar orientation and then eventu- second burn, without proper attitude, the
ally lost power; it reentered Earth's atmos- engine failed to fire.
phere on 19 November 1961. The most

_eep Space Chronicle ............................. -- __- ....

 1962
25) Because of a malfunction in the Atlas guid-
Ranger 3 ance system (due to faulty transistors), the
Nation: U.S. (12) probe was inserted into a lunar transfer tra-
0bjective(s): lunar impact jectory with an excessive velocity. A subse-
Spacecraft: P-34 quent incorrect course change ensured that
Spacecraft Mass: 330 kg the spacecraft reached the Moon 14 hours
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL early and missed it by 36,793 kilometers on 28
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena B (no. 3 /Atlas D January. The central computer and sequencer
no. 121 / Agena B no. 6003) failed and the spacecraft returned no TV
Launch Date and Time: 26 January 1962 / images. The probe did, however, provide scien-
20:30 UT tists with the first measurements of interplan-
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12 etary gamma-ray flux. Ranger 3 eventually
Scientific Instruments: entered heliocentric orbit.
1) imaging system
2) gamma-ray spectrometer 26)
3) single-axis seismometer Ranger 4
4) surface-scanning pulse radio Nation: U.S. (13)
experiment Objective(s): lunar impact
Results: This was the first U.S. attempt to Spacecraft: P-35
achieve impact on the lunar surface. The Block Spacecraft Mass: 331.12 kg
II Ranger spacecraft carried a TV camera that Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
used an optical telescope that would allow Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena B (no. 4 / Atlas D
imaging down to about 24 kilometers above no. 133 / Agena B no. 6004)
the lunar' sm_ace during the descent. The Launch Date and Time: 23 April 1962 /
main bus also carried a 42.6-kilogram instru- 20:50 UT
ment capsule that would separate from the Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12
bus at 21.4 kilometers altitude and then inde- Scientific Instruments:
pendently impact on the Moon. Protected by a 1) imaging system
balsa-wood outer casing, the capsule was 2) gamma-ray spectrometer
designed to bounce several times on the lunar 3) single-axis seismometer
surface before coming to rest. The primary 4) surface-scanning pulse radio
onboard instrument was a seismometer. experiment
Results:
Thisspacecraft,similarin designto 28)
Ranger3, wasthe first U.S.spacecraft to no name / [Venera]
reachanothercelestial
body. Apowerfailure Nation: USSR (14)
in the central computerand sequencer 0bjective(s): Venus impact
stoppedthe spacecraft's masterclockand Spacecraft: 2MV-1 (no. 1)
prevented thevehiclefromperforming any Spacecraft Mass: 1,097 kg
of its prep]annedoperations,such as Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
openingits solarpanels.Driftingaimlessly Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T103-12)
and without any midcoursecorrections, Launch Date and Time: 25 August 1962 /
Ranger4 impacted theMoononits far side 02:18:45 UT
at 12:49:53 UT on 26April 1962.Impact Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
coordinateswere15°30 ' southlatitudeand Scientific Instruments: unknown
130°42' westlongitude.
Althoughthespace- Results: This mission was the first of a second
craftdidnot achieveits primaryobjective, generation of Soviet deep space probes based
the Atlas-Agena-Ranger combinationper- on a unified platform called 2MV ("2" for the
formedwithoutfaultforthefirsttime. second generation, "MV" for Mars and Venus)
designed to study Mars and Venus. The series
27) included four variants with the same bus but
Mariner 1 with different payload complements: 2MV-1
Nation: U.S. (14) (for Venus impact), 2MV-2 (for Venus flyby),
0blective(s): Venus flyby 2MV-3 (for Mars impact), and 2MV-4 (fbr Mars
Spacecraft: P-37 / Mariner R-1 flyby). The landers carried pressurized cap-
Spacecraft Mass: 202.8 kg sules; the Venus landers were cooled with an
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL ammonia-based system, while the Mars lan-
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena B (no. 5 / Atlas D ders used a system of air conditioners. Both
no. 145 / Agena B no. 6901) landers were sterilized with a special sub-
Launch Date and Time: 22 July 1962 / stance on recommendation from the Academy
09:21:23 UT of Sciences's Institute of Microbiology. The
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12 buses were powered by solar panels with an
Scientific Instruments: area of 2.5 square meters capable of providing
l) microwave radiometer 2.6 A. For Venus, the Soviets prepared three
2) infrared radiometer spacecraft for the August-September 1962
3) fluxgate magnetometer launch window, one flyby spacecraft and two
4) cosmic dust detector landers. This first spacecraft was successfully
5) solar plasma spectrometer launched into Earth orbit, but the Blok L
6) energetic particle detectors upper stage cut off its interplanetary burn
Results: After approval by NASA Headquarters after only 45 seconds (instead of the planned
in September 1961, JPL prepared three space- 240 seconds). Later investigation showed that
craft based on the design of the Ranger Block the stage had been set on a tumbling motion
I series (therefore named Mariner R) to fly by prior to main engine ignition due to asymmet-
Venus in late 1962. Each spacecraft carried a rical firing of stabilizing motors. The space-
modest suite (9 kilograms) of scientific instru- craft remained in Earth orbit for three days
mentation but had no imaging capability. The before reentering Earth's atmosphere.
spacecraft included 54,000 components and
was designed to maintain contact with Earth 29)
for 2,500 hours--an ambitious goal given that Mariner 2
the (still unsuccessful) Ranger was designed Nation: U.S. (15)
for only 65 hours of contact. Mariner 1 would 0bjective(s): Venus flyby
have flown by Venus at a range of 29,000 kilo- Spacecraft: P-38 / Mariner R-2
meters on 8 December 1962, but due to an Spacecraft Mass: 203.6 kg
incorrect trajectory during launch, range Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
safety had to destroy the booster and its pay- Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena B (no. 6/Atlas D
load at T+290 seconds. no. 179 / Agena B no. 6902)
Launch Date and Time: 27 August 1962 / Scientific Instruments: unknown
06:53:14 UT Results: This was the second of three Venus

Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12 spacecraft launched by the Soviets in 1962.
Scientific Instruments: lake its predecessor launched in August 1962
1) microwave radiometer (also a Venus impact probe), the spacecraft
2) infrared radiometer never left parking orbit around Earth because
3) fluxgate magnetometer of a malfunction in the Blok L upper stage
41) cosmic dust detector designed to send the probe out of Earth orbit
5) solar plasma spectrometer toward Venus. Evidently, the valve that con-
6) energetic particle detectors trolled the delivery of fuel into the combustion
Results: NASA brought the Mariner R-2 space- chamber of the Blok L engine (the S1.5400)
craft out of storage and launched it just never opened. As a result, the engine never
thirty-six days after the failure of Mariner 1. fired. The payload decayed within five days of
Mariner 2, as it was known after launch, was launch.

equipped with an identical complement of

instrumentation to that of its predecessor (see 31)

Mariner 1). The mission proved to be the first no name / [Venera]

fully successful interplanetary mission per- Nation: USSR (16)

formed by any nation. After a midcourse cor- 0bjective(s): Venus flyby

rection on 4 September, the spacecraft flew by Spacecraft: 2MV-2 (no. 1)
Venus at a range of 34,762 kilometers on 14 Spacecraft Mass: unknown
December 1962. During a 42-minute scan of Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
the planet, Mariner 2 gathered significant Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T103-114)
data on the Venusian atmosphere and surface Launch Date and Time: 12 September 1962 /
before continuing on to heliocentric orbit. 00:59:13 UT
NASA maintained contact until 07:00 UT on Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1

3 January 1963, when the spacecraft was 87.4 Scientific Instruments:

million kilometers from Earth, a new record 1) imaging system
for a deep space probe. The data returned (remainder unknown)
showed that the surface temperature on Venus Rest, Its: Like its two predecessors (launched
was at least 425°C with minimal differentia- on 25 August and 1 September 1962), this
tion between the day and night sides of the Soviet Venus probe never left parking orbit
planet. Mariner 2 also found that there was a around the Earth. The Blok L upper stage,
dense cloud layer that extended from 56 to 80 designed to send the spacecraft toward
kilometers above the surface. The spacecraft Venus, fired for only 0.8 seconds before shut-
detected no discernable planetary magnetic ting down because of unstable attitude. Later
field; this lack is partly explained by the great investigation indicated that the upper stage
distance of the flyby. After this successful mis- had been put into a tumble by the violent
sion, NASA elected to stand down the third shutdown of the third stage. The tumble had
spacecraft in the series (Mariner R-3), sched- mixed air bubbles within the propellant
uled for the 1964 launch window. tanks, preventing a clean firing of the engine.
Unlike its predecessors, this probe was
30) designed for a Venus flyby rather than atmos-
no name / [Venera] pheric entry and impact. The spacecraft reen-
Nation: USSR (15) tered Earth's atmosphere two days after
0bjective(s): Venus impact launch.
Spacecraft: 21VIV-1 (no. 2)
Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,100 kg 32)
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 Ranger 5
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T103-13) Nation: U.S. (16)
Launch Date and Time: 1 September 1962 / 0bjective(s): lunar impact
02:12:30 UT Spacecraft: P-36
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 Spacecraft Mass: 342.46 kg

- _- - . 1962_
 Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL spacecraft. The three missions were primarily
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena B (no. 7 / Atlas D technological test flights rather than scientific
no. 215 / Agena no. 6005) missions. In this case, the Blok L interplane-
Launch Date and Time: 18 October 1962 / tary stage failed again. Just 17 seconds after
16:59:00 UT trans-Mars injection ignition, the main
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12 engine (the $1.5400A1) turbopump exploded,
Scientific Instruments: destroying the payload. The problem was
1) imaging system traced to leaking lubricant. As many as
21) gamma-ray spectrometer twenty-four fragments were later tracked, the
3) single-axis seismometer largest of which reentered on 29 October. The
4) surface-scanning pulse radio original probe was designed to fly by Mars on
experiment 17 June 1963.

Results: This was the third attempt to impact

the lunar surface with a Block II Ranger 34)
spacecraft. On this mission, just 15 minutes Mars 1
after normal operation, a malfunction led to Nation: USSR (18)
the transfer of power from solar to battery 0bjective(s): Mars flyby
power. Normal operation never resumed; bat- Spacecraft: 2MV-4 (no. 4)
tery power was depleted after 8 hours, and all Spacecraft Mass: 893.5 kilograms
spacecraft systems died. The first midcourse Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
correction was never implemented, and Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T103-16)
Ranger 5 passed the Moon at a range of 724 Launch Date and Time: 1 November 1962 /
kilometers on 21 October and entered helio- 16:14:16 UT
centric orbit. It was tracked to a distance of Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
1,271,381 kilometers. Before loss of signal, the Scientific Instruments:
spacecraft sent back about 4 hours of data 1) imaging system
from the gamma-ray experiment. 2) magnetometer
Results: The second of three Soviet spacecraft
33) intended for the 1962 Mars launch window,
no name / [Mars] Mars 1 was the first spacecraft sent by any
Nation: USSR (17) nation to fly past Mars. Its primary mission
0bjective(s): Mars flyby was to photograph the surface. This time the
Spacecraft: 2MV-4 (no. 1) upper stage successfully fired the probe
Spacecraft Mass: c. 900 kg toward Mars, but immediately after engine
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 cutoff, controllers discovered that pressure in
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T103-15) one of the nitrogen gas bottles for the space-
Launch 0ate and Time: 24 October 1962 / craft's attitude-control system had dropped to
17:55:04 UT zero (due to incomplete closure ofa valve). On
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 6 and 7 November, controllers used a backup
Scientific Instruments: gyroscope system to keep the solar panels
1) imaging system constantly exposed to the Sun during the
2) magnetometer coast phase, although further midcourse cor-
Results: This was the first of three "second- rections became impossible. Controllers
generation" interplanetary probes (two flyby maintained contact with the vehicle until 21
probes and one impact probe), designed to March 1963, when the probe was 106 million
reach Mars, prepared by the Soviets for the kilometers from Earth. Mars 1 eventually
late-1962 launch window. Because of the silently flew by Mars at a distance of 197,000
repeated failures of the Blok L upper stage kilometers on 19 June 1963. Prior to loss of
during deep space missions, engineers elected contact, scientists were able to collect data on
to outfit the stage for the Mars missions with interplanetary space (on cosmic-ray intensity,
supplementary control and measurement Earth's magnetic fields, ionized gases from
equipment. As a result, most of the scientific the Sun, and meteoroid impact densities) up
instruments were removed from the Mars to a distance of 1.24 AU.
35) 1962 and also the only lander in the series.
no name / [Mars] During the trans-Mars injection firing of the
Nation: USSR (19) Blok L stage, the main engine (the S1.5400A1)
0bjective(s): Mars impact prematurely shut down after 33 seconds due
Spacecraft: 2MV-3 (no. 1) to a malfunction in the programmed timer for
Spacecraft Mass: unknown the stage. The problem was later traced to
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 excessive vibrations of the second stage during
Launch Yehic_e: 8K78 (no. T103-17} ]iftoff. These vibrations evidentJy also jarred
Launch Date and Time: 4 November 1962 / loose a pyrotechnic igniter from its support,
15:35:15 UT preventing the Blok L upper stage from firing.
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 The spacecraft remained stranded in orbit and
Scientific Instruments: unknown reentered Earth's atmosphere on 5 November.
Results: This was the third and last of the The spacecraft had been intended to fly by
Soviet "second-generation" Mars attempts in Mars on 21 June 1963.
 1963
36) inverter in the power system of the 1-100
no name / [Luna] guidance system (which controlled both the
Nation: USSR (20) Blok L and the spacecraft), which failed to
0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing issue a command to fire the Blok L engine.
Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 2) The spacecraft remained in Earth orbit,
Spacecraft Mass: 1,420 kg unacknowledged by the Soviets.
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T103-09) 37)
Launch Date and Time: 4 January 1963 / no name / [Luna]
08:49 UT Nation: USSR (21)
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing
Scientific Instruments: Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 3)
1) imaging system Spacecraft Mass: 1,420 kg
2) radiation detector Mission Design and Management: OKB-I
Results: This spacecraft was the first "second- Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. G103-10)
generation" Soviet lunar probe (known as Ye- Launch Date and Time: 3 February 1963 /
6). These were designed to accomplish a 09:29:14 UT
survivable landing on the surface of the Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
Moon. The Ye-6 probes were equipped with Scientific Instruments:
simple lander capsules {called the ALS} 1) imaging system
whose primary objective was to send back 2) radiation detector
photographs from the lunar surface. Each Results: This was the second Soviet attempt to
egg-shaped ALS was installed on a roughly accomplish a soft-landing on the Moon. This
cylindrical-shaped main bus. Like the Mars time, the spacecraft failed to reach Earth orbit.
and Venera deep space probes, the Ye-6 Luna Following separation of the second stage, the
spacecraft were also launched by the four- booster lost attitude control and deposited its
stage 8K78 (Molniya) booster but modified third and fourth stages in the Pacific Ocean
for lunar missions. Like many of its deep near Midway Island. Later investigation indi-
space predecessors, this first Luna probe cated that the 1-100 guidance system provided
failed to escape Earth orbit because of a incorrect information to the booster's trajec-
failure in the Blok L translunar injection tory control system.
stage. There was apparently a failure in the

1963
 38) Scientific Instruments:
Luna 4 1) radiation detector
Nation: USSR (22) 2) charged-particle detector
Objective(s): lunar soft-landing 3) magnetometer
Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 4) 4) piezoelectric detector
Spacecraft Mass: 1,422 kilograms 5) atomic hydrogen detector
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 6) radio telescope
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. G103-11) 7) ultraviolet and Roentgen solar radi-
Launch Date and Time: 2 April 1963 / ation experiment
08:16:37 UT 8) technology experiment
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 9) plasma engines
Scientific Instruments: Results; This was the first of the Soviet

1) imaging system Union's "third-generation" deep space plane-

2) radiation detector tary probes of the 3MV series. Like the
Results: The third Soviet attempt to perform a second generation, Soviet engineers projected
lunar soft-landing was the first in which the four types of the 3MV: the 3MV-1 (for Venus
spacecraft actually left Earth orbit. During the impact), 3MV-2 (for Venus flyby), 3MV-3 (for
coast to the Moon, the spacecraft's Yupiter Mars impact), and 3MV-4 (for Mars flyby).
astronavigation system suffered a major The primary difference over the second gen-
failure (probably in its thermal control eration was vastly improved (and in many
system) and left the probe in an incorrect atti- cases doubled) orientation system elements.
tude. As a result, Luna 4 was unable to per- While these four versions were meant to
form its planned midcourse correction. study Mars and Venus, the Soviets conceived
Although communications were maintained of two additional variants of the series, sim-
with the spacecraft, it passed by the Moon at a ilar but not identical to the 3MV-1 and 3MV-
range of 8,500 kilometers on 6 April and even- 4 versions. These "test variants" were
tually entered heliocentric orbit (after being in designed to verify key technological systems
an intermediate barycentric orbit). during simpler missions on flyby missions to
the Moon and the near planets. On this par-
39) ticular launch, the first to fly a "test variant,"
Kosmos 21 / [Zond] the third and fourth stages separated abnor-
Nation: USSR (23) mally; after the craft reached Earth orbit,
0bjective(s): lunar flyby ground control lost telemetry from the Blok L
Spacecraft: 3MV-1A (no. 1) upper stage designed to send the vehicle past
Spacecraft Mass: c. 800 kg the Moon. The stage's main engine tur-
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 bopump probably exploded upon ignition,
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. G103-18) destroying the payload. With this mission,
Launch Date and Time: 11 November 1963 / the Soviets began the practice of giving
06:23:35 UT Kosmos designations to lunar and planetary
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 probes that remained stranded in Earth
orbit.

•o Deep Space Chronicle ...........

 1964
40) Atlas booster separation and left the system
Ranger 6 inoperable. The cameras were to have trans-
Nation: U.S. (17) mitted high-resolution photos of the lunar
0bjective(s): lunar impact approach from 1,448 kilometers to 6.4 kilo-
Spacecraft: P-53 / Ranger-A meters range in support of Project Apollo.
Spacecraft Mass: 364.69 kg Impact coordinates were 9°24 ' north latitude
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL and 21°30 ' east longitude.
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena B (no. 8 /Atlas D
no. 199/Agena B no. 6008) 41)
Launch Date and Time: 30 January 1964 / no name / [Zond]
15:49:09 UT Nation: USSR (24)
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12 0bjective(s): Venus flyby
Scientific Instruments: Spacecraft: 3MV-1A (no. 4A)
1) imaging system (six TV cameras) Spacecraft Mass: c. 800 kg
Results: This fourth American attempt at Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
lunar impact was the closest success. The Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T15000-19)
spacecraft, the first Block III type vehicle Launch Date and Time: 19 February 1964 /
with a suite of six TV cameras, was sterilized 05:47:40 UT
to avoid contaminating the lunar surface. The Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
series would also serve as a test bed for Scientific Instruments:
future interplanetary spacecraft by deploying 1) radiation detector
systems (such as solar panels) that could be 2} charged-particle detector
used for more ambitious missions. The Block 3) magnetometer
III spacecraft carried a 173-kilogram TV unit 4) piezoelectric detector
(replacing the impact capsule carried on the 5) atomic hydrogen detector
Block I] Ranger spacecraft). The six cameras 6) radio telescope
included two full-scan and four partial-scan 7) ultraviolet and Roentgen solar radi-
cameras. Ranger 6 flew to the Moon success- ation experiment
fully and impacted precisely on schedule at 8) technology experiment
09:24:32 UT on 2 February. Unfortunately, the 9) plasma engines
power supply for the TV camera package had Results: This was another Soviet "third-
short-circuited three days previously during generation" deep space probe that failed to
 accomplish its missionofa Venusflyby.This Lander:
spacecraftfailedtoreachEarthorbitduetoa 1) barometer
malfunctionin the launchvehicle'sthird 2) thermometer
stage.Laterinvestigation indicatedthat a 3) radiation detector
liquidoxygen leakthroughanunpressurized 4) micro-organism detection experiment
valveseal frozepropellantin the main 5) atmospheric composition experiment
pipeline.As a result,the pipelinecracked, 6) acidity measurement experiment
leadingtoanexplosion in thethirdstage. 7) electro-conductivity experiment
8) luminosity experiment
42) Results: The probe, designed to accomplish
no name / [Luna] atmospheric entry into Venus, successfully
Nation: USSR (25) reached Earth orbit but failed to leave for
Objective(s): lunar soft-landing Venus when the Blok L upper stage malfunc-
Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 6) tioned. The upper stage evidently lost stable
Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,420 kg attitude due to a failure in the circuit of" the
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 power supply for the attitude-control system.
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. T15000-20) The spacecraft burned up in Earth's atmos-
Launch Date and Time: 21 March 1964 / phere the following day. Had this mission been
08:15:35 UT
successful, it would probably have been given
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 a Zond designation.
Scientific Instruments:
1) imaging system 44)
2) radiation detector Zond 1
Results: This fourth Soviet attempt to achieve a Nation: USSR (27)
soft-landing on the Moon failed to reach an 0bjective(s): Venus impact
intermediate orbit around Earth. During the Spacecraft: 3MV-1 (no. 4)
boost phase, the ]auncher's third-stage Spacecraft Mass: 948 kg
engine's main liquid oxygen valve failed to Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
open when the valve rod broke off. As a result, Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T15000-23)
the third-stage engine never reached full Launch Date and Time: 2 April 1964 /
thrust and eventually cut off prematurely at 02:42:40 UT
T+489 seconds. The spacecraft never reached Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
Earth orbit. Scientific Instruments:
Bus:

43) 1) radiation detector

Kosmos 27 / [Zond] 2) charged-particle detector
Nation: USSR (26) 3) magnetometer
0bjective(s): Venus impact 4) piezoelectric detector
Spacecraft: 3MV-1 (no. 5) 5) atomic hydrogen detector
Spacecraft Mass: 948 kg Lander:
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 1) barometer
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T15000-22) 2) thermometer
Launch Date and Tin}e: 27 March 1964 / 3) radiation detector
03:24:42 UT 4) micro-organism detection experiment
Launch Site: NHP-5 / launch site 1 5) atmospheric composition experiment
Scientific Instruments: 6) acidity measurement experiment
Bus: 7) electro-conductivity experiment
1) radiation detector 8) luminosity experiment
2) charged-particle detector Results: Although this Venus impact probe was
3) magnetometer successfully sent toward Venus, ground con-
4) piezoelectric detector trollers discovered a series of major malfunc-
5) atomic hydrogen detector tions in the spacecraft during its coast to the
planet. These included depressurization of the

Deep Spoce Chronicle .....

main spacecraft bus when the glass cover of a Launch Date and Time: 28 July 1964 /
solar-stellar attitude-control sensor cracked. 16:50:07 UT
Additionally, the internal radio transmitters of Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12
the spacecraft were automatically switched on Scientific Instruments:

at the wrong time--during depressurization, 1) imaging system {six TV cameras)

when the gas discharge created high-voltage Results: Ranger 7, the second of the Block III
currents that shorted out the system. Contact Ranger series, was the first unequivocal suc-
was maintained with the still-pressurized 290- cess in U.S. efforts to explore the Moon--after
kilogram lander module until 25 May 1964, by thirteen consecutive failures. In some ways, it
which time controllers had managed to conduct marked a major milestone in American deep
two major course corrections (at 560,000 kilo- space exploration because the ratio in favor of
meters and 13 to 14 million kilometers from successes increased dramatically after this
Earth, respectively), the first time such actions point. After a nominal midcourse correction
had been performed on a Soviet interplanetary on 29 July, Ranger 7 approached the Moon
spacecraft. The inert spacecraft eventually flew precisely on target two days later. Just 15
by Venus on 19 July 1964 at a range of 110,000 minutes prior to impact, the suite of TV cam-
kilometers. The Soviets later published some eras began sending back spectacular photos
data on cosmic-ray flux measured by Zond 1. of the approaching surface to JPL's Goldstone
dish in California. The last of 4,316 images
45) was transmitted only 2.3 seconds prior to
no name / [Luna] impact at 13:25:49 UT on 31 July 1964. The
Nation: USSR (28) impact point was at 10o38 ' south latitude and
0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing 20°36 ' west longitude on the northern rim of
Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 5) the Sea of Clouds. Scientists on the ground
Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,420 kg were more than satisfied with Results; image
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 resolution was, in many cases, one thousand
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. T15000-21) times better than photos taken from Earth.
Launch Date and Time: 20 April 1964 / Scientists concluded that an Apollo crewed
08:08:28 UT landing would be possible in the mare regions
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 of the lunar surface, given their relative
Scientific Instruments: smoothness.

1) imaging system
2) radiation detector 47)
Results: This was the fifth Soviet attempt at a Mariner 3
lunar soft-landing. The mission was aborted Nation: U.S. (19)
early when during the ascent to Earth orbit, 0bjective(s): Mars flyby
the launch vehicle's third-stage engine pre- Spacecraft: Mariner-64C / Mariner-C
maturely shut down. A subsequent investiga- Spacecraft Mass: 260.8 kg
tion indicated that the engine cut off due to MissioJl Design and Management: NASA JPL
loss of power when a circuit between a bat- Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena D (no. 11 /Atlas
tery in the fourth stage (which powered the D no. 289 / Agena D no. AD68/6931)
third-stage engine) and the 1-100 guidance Launch Date and Time: 5 November 1964 /
unit was broken. 19:22:05 UT
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 13
46) Scientific Instruments:
Ranger 7 1) imaging system
Nation: U.S. (18) 2) cosmic dust detector
0bjective(s): lunar impact 3) cosmic-ray telescope
Spacecraft: P-54 / Ranger-B 4) ionization chamber

Spacecraft Mass: 365.6 kg 5) magnetometer

Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL 6) trapped radiation detector
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena B (no. 9 / Atlas D 7) solar plasma probe
no. 250 / Agena B no. 6009) 8) occultation experiment

m43
Results: NASA approved two probes for the
Mariner-Mars 1964 project in November 1962.
The primary goal of the two spacecraft was to
photograph the Martian surface using a single
TV camera fixed on a scan platform that could
return up to twenty-one pictures after an
eight-month journey. During the launch of
Mariner 3, the first of the two probes, the
booster payload shroud failed to separate from
the payload. Additionally, battery power mys-
teriously dropped to zero (at T+8 hours 43
minutes), and the spacecraft's solar panels
apparently never unfurled to replenish the
power supply. As a result, ground control lost
contact with the spacecraft, which eventually
entered heliocentric orbit. A later investiga- Eleventh picture of Mars from Mariner 4 (in "raw" state)
tion indicated that the shroud's inner fiber- taken through the green filter from 12,500 kilometers
glass layer had separated from the shroud's away, showing a crater 121 kilometers in diameter in the
outer skin, thus preventing jettisoning. Atlantis region. Mariner 4 was the first spacecraft to get
a close look at Mars. Flying as close as 9,846 kilometers,
48) Mariner 4 revealed Mars to have a cratered, rust_:olored
Mariner 4 surface, with signs on some parts oFthe planet that liquid
Nation: U.S. (20) water had once etched its way into the soil. Mariner 4
Objective(s): Mars flyby was launched on 28 November 1964 and arrived at

Spacecraft: Mariner-64D / Mariner-D Mars on 14 July 1965.

Spacecraft Mass: 260.8 kg
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena D (no. 12 / Atlas approach (which was at 01:00:57 UT on 15 July
D no. 288 / Agena D no. AD69 / 6932) 1965 at a range of 9,846 kilometers), the TV
Launch Date and Time: 28 November 1964 / camera began taking the first of twenty-one
14:22:01 UT images (plus twenty-two lines of a twenty-
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12 second) through red and green filters. About
Scientific Instruments: 1.25 hours after the encounter, Mariner 4

1) imaging system dipped behind the right-hand side of Mars (as

2) cosmic dust detector viewed from Earth) in order to refract its radio

3) cosmic-ray telescope signals through the Martian atmosphere. Data

4) ionization chamber indicated that surface pressure was quite low--

5) magnetometer future Mars landers would have to be equipped

6) trapped radiation detector with retro-rocket engines in addition to para-
7) solar plasma probe chutes. The probe detected daytime surface
81 occultation experiment temperatures of about -100°C. A very weak
Results: The Mariner 4 mission, the second of radiation belt, about 0.1 percent of that of
two Mars flyby attempts in 1964 by NASA, was Earth's, was also detected. The day after the
one of the great early successes of the Agency, closest encounter, Mariner 4 began transmit-
returning the very first photos of another ting its photos back to Earth. The images
planet from deep space. Using a new all-metal clearly showed Mars to be an ancient Moon-like
shroud, the spacecraft lifted off without any body with widespread cratering. Given the thin
problems and was successfully boosted toward atmosphere, scientists believed it unlikely that
Mars by the Agena D upper stage. A single mid- Mars harbored any life. NASA maintained con-
course correction on 5 December ensured that tact with the spacecraft until 1 October 1965,
the spacecraft would fly between 8,000 and when the probe was 309 million kilometers
9,660 kilometers from the Martian surface. from Earth. Two years later, in October 1967,
Approximately 40 minutes prior to closest the spacecraft was reactivated for attitude con-
troltestsinsupport
oftheMariner5mission
to Results: Zond 2 was the Soviet Union's first
Venus,whichuseda similarspacecraftbus. third-generation ("3MV") spacecraft sent
Finalcontactwasloston21December1967. toward Mars. This particular model, the 3MV-
4, was designed to fly by the planet and take
49) photographs. After the spacecraft successfully
Zond 2 entered a trans-Mars trajectory, ground con-
Nation: USSR (29) trollers discovered that the probe's solar
0bjective(s): Mars flyby panels had not completely unfurled, which
Spacecraft: 3MV-4 (no. 2) deprived the vehicle of full power. Later inves-
Spacecraft Mass: 996 kg tigation indicated that a tug cord, designed to
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 pull the panels free at the moment of separa-
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 tion from the Blok L upper stage, had broken
Launch Date and Time: 30 November 1964 / off. Controllers were able to fully open the
13:12 UT panel only on 15 December 1964, but by then
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 the time for the first midcourse correction to
Scientific Instruments: fly by Mars had already passed. Additionally,
1) radiation detector between communications sessions, there had
2) charged-particle detector been a failure in the onboard programmed
3) magnetometer timer immediately after transinterplanetary
4) piezoelectric detector injection that led to inappropriate thermal
5) radio telescope conditions for the spacecraft. On 18 December,
6) nuclear component of cosmic-ray before loss of contact, Zond 2 successfully fired
experiment six plasma electric rocket engines (twice) as a
7) ultraviolet and Roentgen solar radi- technology demonstrator for future deep space
ation experiment missions. The spacecraft was to have flown by
8) imaging system Mars on 6 August 1965. It eventually entered
heliocentric orbit.

. .... ..... _964I_ I

 1965
5O) just 24 kilometers from its intended target
Ranger 8 point in the equatorial region of the Sea of
Nation: U.S. (21) Tranquillity--an area that Apollo mission
Objective{s): lunar impact planners were particularly interested in
Spacecraft: Ranger-C studying.
Spacecraft Mass: 366.87 kg
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL 51)
Launch Vehicle: At]as-Agena B (no. 13 / Atlas "Atlas-Centaur 5"
D no. 196 / Agena B no. 6006) Nation: U.S. (22)
Launch Date and Time: 17 February 1965 / 0bjective(s): highly elliptical orbit
17:05:00 UT Spacecraft: SD-1
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12 Spacecraft Mass: 951 kg
Scientific Instruments: Imaging system (six TV Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
cameras) Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-5 / Atlas C
Results: As successful as its predecessor, no. 156D / Centaur C)
Ranger 8 returned 7,137 high-resolution pho- Launch Date and Time: 2 March 1965 /

tographs of the lunar surface prior to its 13:25 UT

scheduled impact at 09:57:37 UT on 20 Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36A

February. Unlike Ranger 7, however, Ranger 8 Scientific Instruments: none
turned on its cameras about 8 minutes earlier Results: This mission was designed to rehearse a
to return pictures with resolution comparable complete Centaur upper-stage burn in support
to Earth-based telescopes (for calibration and of the Surveyor lunar lander program. On a
comparison purposes). Controllers attempted nominal mission, the Centaur would boost its
to align the cameras along the main velocity payload on a direct-ascent trajecto_5_ to the
vector (to reduce imagine smear) but aban- Moon. On this test flight, SD-1, a nonfunctional
doned this maneuver to allow greater area dynamic model, would be boosted on a simu-
coverage. There had also been a mysterious lated lunar transfer trajectory to a hypothetical
loss of telemetry during a midcourse correc- Moon with an orbit of 167 x 926,625 kilometers.
tion on 18 February that gave rise for con- During the actual launch, less than 1 second
cern, although the mission was completed after lii%off, a faulty valve caused both Atlas
successfully. Ranger 8 impacted at 2°43 ' main engines to shut down. As a result, the
north latitude and 24°38 ' east longitude, booster fell back onto the pad and exploded.

............. 196_
 52) Unlike its predecessors, the cameras this time
Kosmos 60 / [Luna] were aimed directly in the direction of travel
Nation: USSR (30) and provided some spectacular shots as the
0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing spacecraft approached the lunar surface.
Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 9) These pictures were converted for live viewing
Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,470 kg on commercial TV. Best resolution was up to
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 25 centimeters just prior to impact. The space-
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. R103-25) craft crashed into the Moon at 14:08:20 UT on
Launch Date and Time: 10 April 1965 / N/A 24 March at 12.83 ° south latitude and 357.63 °
Launch Site: NIIP-5 east longitude, about 6.5 kilometers from its
Scientific Instruments: scheduled target.
1) imaging system
2) radiation detector 54)
Results: Yet another Soviet attempt to soft-land no name / [Luna]
a Ye-6 probe on the lunar surface ended in Nation: USSR (31)
ihilure when the Blok L upper stage failed to 0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing
fire for the translunar injection burn. Instead, Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 8)
the spacecraft remained stranded in Earth Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,470 kg
orbit. A later investigation indicated that Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
there had been a short circuit in an inverter Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. R103-26)
within the 1-100 guidance system of the space- Launch Date and Time: 10 April 1965 / N/A
craft (which also controlled the Blok L stage) Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
preventing engine ignition. The spacecraft's Scientific Instruments:
orbit decayed five days later. 1) imaging system
2) radiation detector
53) Results: This was the seventh consecutive
Ranger 9 failure to accomplish a lunar soft-landing by
Nation: U.S. (23) the Soviets. On this mission, engineers
0bjective(s): lunar impact redesigned the problematic 1-100 guidance
Spacecraft: Ranger-D system that had caused most of the previous
Spacecraft Mass: 366.87 kg failures. Previously, the 1-100 unit had
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL controlled both the Blok L upper stage and
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena B (no. 14 / Atlas the spacecraft itself. On this mission (and
D no. 204 / Agena B no. 6007) subsequent Lunas), the fourth stage and
Launch Date and Time: 21 March 1965 / the Ye-6 spacecraft had separate systems.
21:37:02 UT Unfortunately, this probe never reached Earth
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12 orbit. During the launch, depressurization of a
Scientific Instruments: nitrogen pipe for the liquid oxygen tank on the
1) imaging system (six TV cameras) third stage had prevented third-stage engine
Results: Ranger 9 was the final Ranger mission ignition. The spacecraft broke up over the
of the Block III series and closed out the pro- Pacific without reaching orbit.
gram as a whole. Since both Ranger 7 and
Ranger 8 had provided sufficient photographs 55)
of the mare regions (potential landing sites for Luna 5
the early Apollo missions), Ranger 9 was tar- Nation: USSR (32)
geted to the more geologically interesting 0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing
Alphonsus crater in the lunar highlands, at Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 10)
that time a possible site for recent volcanic Spacecraft Mass: 1,476 kg
activity. Following a midcourse correction on Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
23 March, the spacecraft headed directly to its Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. U103-30)
impact point. Only 20 minutes prior to impact, Launch Date and Time: 9 May 1965 /
Ranger 9 began taking the first of 5,814 pic- 07:49:37 UT
tures from an altitude of 2,100 kilometers. Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1

,: Deep Space Chronicle

Scientific
Instruments: 57)
1) imaging system Zond 3
2) radiation detector Nation: USSR (34)

Results: In May 1965, Luna 5 became the first 0bjective(s): lunar flyby
Soviet probe to head for the Moon in two Spacecraft: 3MV-4 (no. 3)
years. Following the midcourse correction on Spacecraft Mass: 950 kg
10 May, the spacecraft began spinning around Mission Design and Management: OKB-I
its main axis due to a problem in a flotation Launch Vehicle: 8K78

gyroscope in the 1-100 guidance system unit. A Launch Date and Time: 18 July 1965 / N/A

subsequent attempt to fire the main engine Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1

failed because of ground control error, and the Scientific Instruments:

engine never fired. After loss of control as a 1) imaging system

result of the gyroscope problem, Luna 5 2) ultraviolet spectrograph
crashed. Landing coordinates were 31 ° south 3) ultraviolet and infrared
latitude and 8 ° west longitude. It was the spectrophotometer
second Soviet spacecraft to land on the Moon 4) meteoroid detectors

(following Luna 2 in 1959). 5) radiation sensors (cosmic rays, solar

wind)
56 ) 6) magnetometer
Luna 6 7) ion thrusters
Nation: USSR (33) 8) radio telescope
0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing Results: This "third-generation" deep space
Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 7) probe had originally been slated for a Mars
Spacecraft Mass: 1,442 kg flyby in late 1964 but could not be prepared
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 on time. Instead, Soviet designers diverted
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. U103-31) the mission for a simple lunar flyby in 1965
Launch Date and Time: 8 June 1965 / 07:40 UT to test its basic systems and photograph the
Launch Site: N[IP-5 / launch site 1 far side of the Moon. After a successful
Scientific Instruments: translunar injection burn, Zond 3 approached
11 imaging system the Moon after only a 33-hour flight. Its
21 radiation detector imaging mission began on 20 July at a range
Results: On this ninth Soviet attempt at a of 11,570 kilometers from the near side of the

lunar soft-landing, the mission proceeded as Moon. The camera system used a similar
planned until the major midcourse correction system to that of Luna 3, with onboard expo-
late on 9 June. Although the main retro-rocket sure, development, fixing, and drying prior to
engine tthe $5.5A) ignited on time, it failed to scanning for transmission to Earth. In total,
cut off and continued to fire until propellant the spacecraft took twenty-five visual and
supply was exhausted. An investigation later three ultraviolet images during its flyby. The
indicated that the problem had been due to closest approach was to 9,220 kilometers.
human error; a command had been mistak- These pictures were successfully transmitted
enly sent to the timer that ordered the main back to Earth on 29 July, nine days after Zond
engine to shut down. Although the spacecraft 3's lunar encounter, when it was 2.2 million
was sent on a completely wrong trajectory, kilometers from Earth. Further communica-

ground controllers put the spacecraft through tions sessions occurred on 23 October

a series of steps to practice an actual landing, (involving photo transmissions) when Zond 3
all of which were satisfactorily accomplished. was 31.5 million kilometers from Earth. The

Luna 6 passed by the Moon late on 11 June at last contact was sometime in early March
a range of 161,000 kilometers and eventually 1966, when the spacecraft was 153.5 million
entered heliocentric orbit. Contact was main- kilometers away. During the mission, it had
tained to a distance of 600,000 kilometers photographed the unseen 30 percent of the
from Earth. far side of the Moon. Zond 3 also demon-
strated successful course correction using

1965 ,"
both solar and stellar orientation, a first for a face at a very high speed, crashing at 22:08:24
Soviet spacecraft. UT on 7 October west of the Kepler crater, rel-
atively near the actual intended target.
58) Impact coordinates were 9 ° north latitude and
Surveyor Model 1 49 ° west longitude. Later investigation indi-
Nation: U.S. (24) cated that the optical sensor of the astronavi-
0bjective(s): highly elliptical orbit gation system had been set at the wrong angle
Spacecraft: SD-2 and had lost sight of Earth during the critical
Spacecraft Mass: 950 kg attitude-control maneuver. It was the tenth
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL consecutive failure in the Ye-6 program.
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-6 / Atlas D
no. 151D / Centaur D) 60)
Launch Date and Time: 11 August 1965 / Venera 2
14:31:04 UT Nation: USSR (36)
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36B 0bjective(s): Venus flyby
Scientific Instruments: none Spacecraft: 3MV-4 (no. 4)
Results: This was the second attempt to launch Spacecraft Mass: 963 kg
a dummy Surveyor lunar lander spacecraft Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
into a barycentric orbit toward a simulated Launch Vehicle: 8K78M
Moon. Unlike the results of the previous Launch Date and Time: 12 November 1965 / N/A
attempt (in March 1965), all systems worked Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31
without fault; the Surveyor dynamic model Scientific Instruments:
was inserted on a simulated lunar trajectory 1) three-component magnetometer
so precise that it would have landed on the 2) imaging system
Moon without a trajectory correction on an 3) solar x-radiation detector
actual mission. The spacecraft reentered 4) cosmic-ray gas-discharge counters
Earth's atmosphere after thirty-one days. 5) piezoelectric detectors
6) ion traps
59) 7) photon Geiger counter
tuna 7 8} cosmic radio emission receivers
Nation: USSR (35) Results: Although the 3MV-3 and 3MV-4 type
0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing spacecraft were originally intended for Mars
Spacecraft: Ye-6 InD. 11) exploration, the Soviets re-equipped three of
Spacecraft Mass: 1,506 kg the series, left over from the 1964 Mars
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 launch windows, for Venus exploration in
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. U103-27) 1965. This particular vehicle was scheduled
Launch Date and Time: 4 October 1965 / to fly past the sunlit side of Venus at no more
07:56:40 UT than a 40,000-kilometer range and take pho-
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 tographs. During the outbound flight, com-
Scientific Instruments: munications with the spacecraft were poor.
1) imaging system Immediately before closest approach in late
2) radiation detector February 1966, ground control commanded to
Results: Unlike its predecessors, Luna 7 suc- switch on all the onboard scientific instru-

cessfully carried out its midcourse correction mentation. The closest approach to the planet
on 5 October on the way to the Moon, in antic- was at 02:52 UT on 27 February 1966 at
ipation of a soft-landing two days later. about a 24,000-kilometer range. After its
Unfortunately, immediately prior to planned flyby, when the spacecraft was supposed to
retro-fire during the approach to the lunar relay back the collected information, ground
surface, the spacecraft suddenly lost attitude control was unable to regain contact.
control and failed to regain it. Automatic pro- Controllers finally gave up all attempts at
grammed systems then prevented the main communication on 4 March. Venera 2 eventu-

engine from firing. As controllers observed ally entered heliocentric orbit. Later investi-
helplessly, tuna 7 plummeted to the lunar sur- gation indicated that improper functioning of

Deep Space-Chronicle ......

40 thermal radiator elements caused a sharp Spacecraft: 3MV-4 (no. 6)
increase in gas temperatures in the space- Spacecraft Mass: c. 950 kg
craft. As a result, elements of the receiving Mission Design and Management: OKB-1

and decoding units failed, the solar panels Launch Vehicle: 8K78M

overheated, and contact was lost. Ironically, Launch Date and Time: 23 November 1965 / N/A

the scientific instruments may have collected Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31

valuable data, but none of it was ever trans- Scientific Instruments:

mitted back to Earth. l) three-component magnetometer

2) imaging system
61) 3) solar x-radiation detector

Venera 3 4) cosmic-ray gas-discharge counters

Nation: USSR (37) 5) piezoelectric detectors

0bjective(s): Venus impact 61 ion traps

Spacecraft: 3MV-3 (no. 1_ 7) photon Geiger counter

Spacecraft Mass: 958 kg 8) cosmic radio emission receivers

Mission Design and Management: OKB-1 Results: This was the third and last spacecraft

Launch Vehicle: 8K78M prepared for a Venus encounter by the

Launch Date and Time: 16 November 1965 / N/A Soviets in 1965. All three spacecraft had orig-
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31 inally been intended for Mars exploration in
Scientific Instruments: 1964 and 1965. However, during coast to

Bus: orbit, a combustion chamber in the booster's

1) radiation detector third-stage engine exploded due to a crack in
(rest unknown) the fuel pipeline. Although the payload
Results: This was the second of three 3MV reached Earth orbit, the Blok L upper stage

spacecraft the Soviets attempted to launch was tumbling and was unable to fire for
toward Venus in late 1965. Venera 3 success- trans-Venus trajectory injection. The probe

fully left Earth orbit and released a small 0.9- remained stranded in Earth orbit, and the

meter-diameter, 337-kilogram (some sources Soviets named it Kosmos 96 to disguise its

say 310-kilogram) landing capsule to explore true mission. The probe's orbit decayed on 9
the Venusian atmosphere and transmit data December 1965.

on pressure, temperature, and composition of

the Venusian atmosphere back to Earth 63)

during the descent by parachute. During the Luna 8

outbound trajectory, ground controllers suc- Nation: USSR (39)

cessfully performed a midcourse correction on 0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing

26 December 1965 and completed 93 commu- Spacecraft: Ye-6 (no. 12)
nications sessions. However, contact was lost Spacecraft Mass: 1,552 kg
on 16 February 1966, shortly before the Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
Venusian encounter, although the spacecraft Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. U103-28)

automatically released its sterilized lander Launch Date and Time: 3 December 1965 /

probe, which landed inertly on the Venusian 10:46:14 UT

surface at 06:56 UT on 1 March 1966. It was Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31

the first time a humanmade object had made Scientific Instruments:

physical contact with another planetary body 1_ imaging system

besides the Moon. Later investigation con- 2) radiation detector
firmed that Venera 3 suffered many of the Results: This, the tenth Soviet attempt to
same failures as Venera 2, such as overheating achieve a lunar soft-landing, nearly suc-
of internal components and the solar panels. ceeded. After a successful midcourse correc-
tion on 4 December, the spacecraft headed

62) toward the Moon without any apparent prob-

Kosmos 96 / [Venera] lems. Just prior to the planned retro-fire

Nation: USSR (38) burn, a command was sent to inflate cush-
0bjective(s): Venus flyby ioning airbags around the ALS lander probe.

m 5!
Untbrtunately,a plasticmountingbracket stations spaced along Earth's orbit.
apparently piercedoneofthetwobags. The Measurements by the four Pioneers were
resultingexpulsion ofair putthe spacecraft used to predict solar storms for approxi-
into a spinof 12degrees per second. The mately 1,000 primary users, including the
vehiclemomentarily regainedattitude,long Federal Aviation Administration; commer-
enough fora9-second retro-engine
firing,but cial airlines; power companies; communica-
thenlost it again.Withouta full retro-fire tion companies; military organizations; and
burnto reduceapproach velocitysufficient entities involved in surveying, navigation,
fora survivablelanding,Luna8 plummeted and electronic prospecting. By December
tothelunarsurface andcrashed at 21:51:30 1990, Pioneer 6 had circled the Sun twenty-
UTon 6 December just westofthe Kepler nine times (traveling 24.8 billion kilometersl
crater.Impactcoordinates were9o8 ' north and had been operational for twenty years--
latitudeand63o18 ' westlongitude. a record for a deep space probe. Its original
slated lifetime had been only six months. On
64) 15 December 1996, the spacecraft's primary
Pioneer 6 transmitter failed, but during a track on
Nation: U.S. (25) 11 July 1996, ground controllers switched on
Oblective(s): heliocentric orbit the backup transmitter. Of the spacecraft's
Spacecraft: Pioneer-A six scientific instruments, two (the plasma
Spacecraft Mass: 62.14 kg analyzer and the cosmic-ray detector) still
Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC continue to function. NASA maintains con-
Launch Vehicle: Thor-Delta E (no. 35 /Thor no. tact with the spacecraft once or twice each
460/DSV-3E) year. For example, 1 hour's worth of scientific
Launch Date and Time: 16 December 1965 / data was collected on 29 July and 15
07:31:21 UT December 1995 (although the primary trans-
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17A mitter failed soon after that), and again on 6
Scientific Instruments: October 1997, more than thirty years after
1) single-axis fluxgate magnetometer launch. The probe's solar arrays continue to
2) Faraday-cup plasma probe deteriorate, although the transmitters can
3) plasma analyzer be turned on at perihelion when the solar
4) cosmic-ray telescope flux is strong enough to provide sufficient
5) cosmic-ray-anisotropy detector power. On 8 December 2000, to commemo-
6) radio wave propagation experiment rate its thirty-fifth anniversary of operation,
7) celestial mechanics experiment ground controllers established successful
Results: Pioneer 6 was the first of four NASA contact with the spacecraft for about 2 hours.
spacecraft designed to study interplanetary
phenomena in space. The spacecraft success-
fully provided simultaneous scientific meas-
urements at widely dispersed locations in
heliocentric orbit. It returned the first data
on the tenuous solar atmosphere and later
recorded the passage of Comet Kohoutek's
tail in 1974. Along with Pioneers 7, 8, and 9,
the spacecraft formed a ring of solar weather

Deep Space _hronicle ......... --

 1966
65) Luna 9 began transmitting data to Earth, but
Luna 9 it was 7 hours (after the Sun climbed to 7°
Nation: USSR (40) elevation) before the probe began sending the
0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing first of nine images (including five
Spacecraft: Ye-6M (no. 202) panoramas) of the surface of the Moon. These
Spacecraft Mass: 1,538 kg were the first images sent from the surface of
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ another planetary body. The radiation
Lavochkin detector, the only scientific instrument on
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. U103-32) board, measured a dosage of 30 millirads per
Launch Date and Time: 31 January 1966 / day. Perhaps the most important discovery of
11:41:37 UT the mission was determining that a foreign
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31 object would not simply sink into the lunar
Scientific Instruments: dust, that is, that the ground could support a
1) imaging system heavy lander. Last contact with the space-
2) SBM-10 radiation detector craft was at 22:55 UT on 6 February 1966.
Results: With this mission, the Soviets accom-
plished another spectacular first in the space 66)
race, the first survivable landing of a human- Kosmos 111 / [Luna]
made object on another celestial body. Luna 9 Nation: USSR (41)
was the twelfth attempt at a soft-landing by Objective(s): lunar orbit
the Soviets; it was also the first deep space Spacecraft: Ye-6S (no. 204)
probe built by the Lavochkin design bureau, Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,580 kg
which ultimately would design and build Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
almost all Soviet (and Russian) lunar and Lavochkin
interplanetary spacecraft. All operations Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. N103-41)
prior to landing occurred without fault, and Launch Date and Time: 1 March 1966 /
the 58-centimeter spheroid ALS capsule 11:03:49 UT
landed on the Moon at 18:45:30 UT on 3 Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31
February 1966 west of the Reiner and Marius Scientific Instruments:
craters in the Ocean of Storms (at 7°8 ' north 1) magnetometer
latitude and 64o22 ' west longitude). 2) gamma-ray spectrometer
Approximately 5 minutes after touchdown, 3) five gas-discharge counters
 4) twoiontrapsanda charged-particlelunar equator. The spacecraft carried a set of
trap solid-state oscillators that had been pro-
5) piezoelectricmicrometer detector grammed to reproduce the notes of the
6) infrareddetector Internationale so that it could be broadcast

7) low-energy x-rayphotoncounters live to the 23rd Communist Party Congress.

Results:In early 1966,the Sovietsbegan During a rehearsal on the night of 3 April,
hastilyputtingtogetheran interimlunar the playback went well, but the following
orbiterprogram, theYe-6S, partlytoupstage morning, controllers discovered a missing
the AmericanLunar Orbiterprojectand note and played the previous night's tape to
partlytocommemorate the23rdCongress of the assembled gathering at the Congress-
the Communist Partyheldin March1966. claiming it was a live broadcast from the
Engineers quicklydesigned a setoftworudi- Moon. Luna 10 conducted extensive research
mentaryprobesusingthe oldYe-6(lander) in lunar orbit, gathering important data on
busesforthesemissions. Thefirstofthemwas the weakness of the Moon's magnetic field, its
prepared in lessthana monthbut failedto radiation belts, and the nature of lunar rocks
leaveEarthorbit.DuringEarthorbitopera- (which were tbund to be comparable to ter-
tions,theBlokL upperstagelostroll control restrial basalt rocks), cosmic radiation, and
andfailedto fire tosendtheprobetowards micrometeoroid density. Perhaps its most
theMoon. TheofficialSovietmedianamed the important finding was the first evidence of
strandedsatelliteKosmos 111;it reentered mass concentrations (called "mascons")--
Earth'satmosphere twodaysafterlaunch. areas of high density below the mare basins
that distort lunar orbital trajectories. Their
67) discovery has usually been credited to the
Luna 10 American Lunar Orbiter series. Last contact
Nation: USSR (42) was on 30 May 1966.
Objective(s): lunar orbit
Spacecraft: Ye-6S (no. 206) 68)
Spacecraft Mass: 1,582 kg Surveyor Model 2
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ Nation: U.S. (26)
Lavochkin Objective(s): highly elliptical orbit
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. N103-42) Spacecraft: SD-3
Launch Date and Time: 31 March 1966 / Spacecraft Mass: 784 kg
10:47 UT Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31 Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-8 / Atlas
Scientific Instruments: no. 184D / Centaur D)
1) magnetometer Launch Date and Time: 8 April 1966 /
2) gamma-ray spectrometer 01:00:02 UT
3} five gas-discharge counters Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36B
4) two ion traps and a charged-particle Scientific Instruments: none

trap Results: This was a test to launch a dummy

5) piezoelectric micrometer detector Surveyor lunar lander spacecraft into a
6) infrared detector barycentric orbit toward a simulated Moon.
7) low-energy x-ray photon counters Unlike the two previous Surveyor mass model
Results: After a midcourse correction on 1 tests, this flight was supposed to demonstrate
April, Luna 10, the second of two hastily pre- a restart capability for the Centaur upper
pared Soviet Ye-6S probes (that is, the stage. The Centaur-Surveyor combination
backup), successfully entered lunar orbit two successfully achieved parking orbit around
days later at 18:44 UT, thus becoming the Earth, but at the desired time, the Centaur
first humanmade object to go into orbit engines fired for only a few seconds. A thrust
around another planetary body. A 245-kilo- imbalance left the payload tumbling. The
gram instrument compartment separated problem was later traced to a hydrogen per-
from the main bus, which was in a 350 x oxide leak in the ullage motors of the Centaur
1,000-kilometer orbit inclined at 71.9 ° to the stage. With no hope of reaching its ultimate
orbit,thespacecraft
reentered
Earth'satmos- face indicated that Surveyor 1 was resting in
phereon5 May1966. a 100-kilometer-diameter crater that con-
tained boulders of more than 1 meter in
69) length scattered all around. The photos
Sunleyor 1 showed crestlines of low mountains in the
Nation: U.S. (27) distant horizon. The lander transmitted
0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing 11,350 images over two separate communica-
Spacecraft: Surveyor-A tions sessions by 6 July. Although the pri-
Spacecraft Mass: 995.2 kg mary mission was completed by 13 July,
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL NASA maintained contact until 7 January
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-10 / Atlas 1967. Without doubt, Surveyor 1 was one of
D no. 290 / Centaur D) the great successes of NASA's early lunar and
Launch [:}ate and Time: 30 May 1966 / interplanetary program.
14:41:01 UT
Launch Site: ETR, launch complex 36A
Scientific Instruments:
1) imaging system
Results: NASA initially (c. 1963) conceived of
the Surveyor program as a landing and
orbiting robotic lunar project, but it scaled
down plans to a more specific program of ten
lunar soft-landers (seven were eventually
launched) geared toward basic engineering
goals rather than scientific exploration. The
primary "scientific instrument" was an
imaging system. Unlike the Soviet Luna lan-
ders, Surveyor was a true soft-lander, com-
prising a 3-meter-tall vehicle based on a
27-kilogram, thin-walled aluminum trian-
gular structure with one of three legs at each
corner and a large solid-propellant retro-
rocket engine (that comprised over 60 percent
of the spacecraft's overall mass) in the center.
The spacecraft was equipped with a Doppler
velocity-sensing system that fed information
into the spacecraft computer to implement a
controllable descent to the surface. Each of
the three landing pads also carried aircraft-
type shock absorbers and strain gauges to
provide data on landing characteristics,
important for future Apollo missions.
Surveyor 1, the first in the series, was an
unprecedented success. NASA accomplished
the first true soft-landing on the Moon on its
very first try when the probe landed in the
southwest region of the Ocean of Storms at
06:17:36 UT on 2 June 1966, just 63.6
hours after launch from Cape Canaveral.
Touchdown coordinates were 2°27 . south lati- Image of Surveyor l's shadow against the lunar surface in the late lunar afternoon,
tude and 43°13 ' west longitude, just 14 kilo- with the horizon at the upper right. Surveyor 1 was the fiJsl U.S. mission to make a
meters from the planned target. At landing, successful soft-landing on the Moon. In addition to transmitting over 11,000 pictures,
the spacecraft weighed 294.3 kilograms. The it sent information on the bearing strength of the lunar soil the radar reflectivify, and
initial panoramic views from the lunar sur- temperature.

" " )966

70) resolution photographs of potential Apollo
Explorer 33 landing sites. NASA planned launches of a
Nation: U.S. (28) series of three-axis stabilized spacecraft with
0bjective(s): lunar orbit four solar panels and a main engine (derived
Spacecraft: [MP-D from an Apollo attitude control thruster) for
Spacecraft Mass: 93.4 kg lunar orbit insertion. The primary instrument
Mission Design and Management: NASA GSFC on board was a 68-kilogram Eastman-Kodak
Launch Vehicle: Thor-Delta E-1 (no. 39 / Thor imaging system (using wide- and narrow-
no. 467 / DSV-3E) angle lenses) that could develop exposed film,
Launch Date and Time: 1 July 1966 / scan the images, and send them back to Earth.
16:02:25 UT The narrow-angle pictures provided resolution
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17A of up to 60 to 80 meters, while the wide-angle
Scientific Instruments : photos showed resolutions up to 0.5 kilome-
1) fluxgate magnetometers ters. Lunar Orbiter 1 entered a 191 x 1,854-
2) thermal ion probe kilometer orbit around the Moon on 24
3) ion chamber August, becoming the first U.S. spacecraft to
4) tubes plus p-on-n junction do so. The spacecraft's primary mission was to
5) Faraday-cup probe photograph nine potential Apollo landing
Results: Explorer 33 was designed to become sites, seven secondary areas, and the Surveyor
the first U.S. spacecraft to enter lunar orbit 1 landing site. During its mission, the probe
(planned parameters were 1,300 x 6,440 kilo- took 207 frames of the lunar surface covering
meters at 175 ° inclination), but the Thor an area of 5.18 million square kilometers. The
Delta E-1 second stage accelerated too rap- high-resolution photos were blurred from
idly for compensation by the probe's retro- smearing, but the medium-resolution images
rocket to achieve lunar orbit. Instead, the were the best lunar surface images returned
spacecraft (56.7 kg by this time) went into an to date. One of the images returned, taken on
eccentric Earth orbit of 15,897 x 435,330 23 August, was the first picture of Earth from
kilometers. The main solid-propellant retro- the Moon. Lunar Orbiter 1 returned its last
rocket engine later stabilized the orbit to a picture on 30 August and was commanded to
less eccentric 30,550 x 449,174-kilometer crash on to the lunar surface on 29 October to
orbit at 28.9 ° inclination. In its new orbit, the prevent its transmissions from interfering
probe returned key data on Earth's magnetic with future Lunar Orbiters. Impact coordi-
tail, the interplanetary magnetic field, and nates were 6042 ' north latitude and 162 ° east
radiation. longitude (at 13:30 UT).

71) 72)
Lunar Orbiter 1 Pioneer 7
Nation: U.S. (29) Nation: U.S. (30)
0bjective(s): lunar orbit 0bjective(s): heliocentric orbit
Spacecraft: LO-A Spacecraft: Pioneer-B
Spacecraft Mass: 385.6 kg Spacecraft Mass: 62.75 kg
Mission Design and Management: NASA LaRC Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC
Launch Vehicle: At]as-Agena D (no. 17 /Atlas Launch Vehicle: Thor-Delta E-I (no. 40 / Thor

D no. 5801 / Agena D no. AD121 / 6630) no. 462 / DSV-3E)

Launch Date and Time: 10 August 1966 / Launch Date and Time: 17 August 1966 /
19:26:00 UT 15:20:17 UT
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 13 Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17A
Scientific Instruments: Scientific instruments:
1) imaging system 1) single-axis fluxgate magnetometer
2) micrometeoroid detectors 2) Faraday-cup plasma probe
3t radiation dosimeters 3) plasma analyzer
Results: The Lunar Orbiter program originated 4) cosmic-ray telescope
as a response to the need to obtain l-meter- 5) cosmic-ray-anisotropy detector
 6) radiowavepropagation experiment of scientific instruments (plus an imaging
7) celestialmechanics experiment system similar to the one used on Zond 3)
Results:Identicalto Pioneer6, Pioneer7 replaced the small lander capsule used on the
wasput into heliocentricorbit at 0.814x soft-landing flights. The resolution of the
0.985AUtostudythesolarmagneticfield, photos was reportedly 15 to 20 meters. A
the solarwind,andcosmicraysat widely technological experiment included testing the
separatedpoints in solar orbit. On 7 efficiency of gear transmission in vacuum as
September1968,the spacecraftwascor- a test for a future lunar rover. Luna 11,
rectlyalignedwith the SunandEarth to launched only two weeks after the U.S. Lunar
beginstudyingEarth'smagnetictail. In Orbiter, successfully entered lunar orbit at
1977,eleven yearsafteritslaunch,Pioneer7 21:49 UT on 27 August. Parameters were 160
registeredthe magnetictail 19.3million x 1,193 kilometers. During the mission, the
kilometersout, three times further into TV camera failed to return usable images
spacethan recordedpreviously.On 20 because the spacecraft lost proper orientation
March 1986,the spacecraftflew within to face the lunar surface when a foreign
12.3millionkilometersof Halley'sComet object was lodged in the nozzle of one of the
andmonitored the interactionbetween the attitude-control thrusters. The other instru-
cometary hydrogen tail andthesolarwind. ments functioned without fault before the
As with Pioneer6 andPioneer8, NASA mission formally ended on 1 October 1966
continues to maintainintermittentcontact after the power supply had been depleted.
with Pioneer7, morethan thirty years
afterits missionbegan.On31March1995, 74)

for example,the plasmaanalyzerwas Surveyor 2

turnedon during2 hoursof contactwith Nation: U.S. (31)
theground. Objective(s): lunar soft-landing
Spacecraft: Surveyor-B
73) Spacecraft Mass: 995.2 kg
Luna 11 Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
Nation: USSR (43) Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-7 / Atlas D
Objective(s): lunar orbit no. 194 / Centaur D)
Spacecraft: Ye-6LF (no. 101) Launch Date and Time: 20 September 1966 /
Spacecraft Mass: 1,640 kg 12:32:00 UT
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36A
Lavochkin Scientific Instruments:
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. N103-43) 1) imaging system
Launch Date and Time: 24 August 1966 / Results: Surveyor 2, similar in design to its
08:03 UT predecessor, was aimed for a lunar soft-
Launch Site: NIIP-5 landing in Sinus Medii. During the coast to
Scientific Instruments: the Moon, at 05:00 UT on 21 September, one
1) imaging system of three thrusters failed to ignite for a 9.8-
2) gamma-ray detector second midcourse correction and thus put the
3) magnetometer spacecraft into an unwanted spin. Despite as
4) radiation detectors many as thirty-nine repeated attempts to fire
51 infrared radiometer the recalcitrant thruster, the engine failed to
6) meteoroid detectors ignite, and Surveyor 2 headed to the Moon
7) R-1 gear transmission experiment without proper control. Just 30 seconds after
Results: This subset of the "second-generation" retro-fire ignition at 09:34 UT on 22
Luna spacecraft, the Ye-6LF, was designed to September, communications fell out, and the
take the first photographs of the surface of lander crashed on to the surface of the Moon
the Moon from lunar orbit. A secondary objec- at 5o30 ' north latitude and 12 ° west longi-
tive was to obtain data on mass concentra- tude, just southeast of Copernicus crater.
tions ("mascons") on the Moon first detected
by Luna 10. Using the basic Ye-6 bus, a suite
 75) Scientific Instruments:
Luna 12 1) imaging system
Nation: USSR (44) 2) micrometeoroid detectors
Objective(s): lunar orbit 3) radiation dosimeters
Spacecraft: Ye-6LF (no. 102) Results: Lunar Orbiter 2% mission was to pho-
Spacecraft Mass: 1,620 kg tograph thirteen primary and seventeen sec-
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ ondary landings sites for the Apollo program
Lavochkin in the northern region of the Moon's near side
launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. N103-44) equatorial area. On 10 November 1966, the
launch Date and Time: 22 October 1966 / 08:42 spacecraft entered a 196 x 1,871-kilometer
UT orbit around the Moon. By 6 December, when
launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31 the probe transmitted back its last photo-
Scientific Instruments: graph, 211 pictures had been taken of both
1) imaging system the near side and large areas of the far side.
2) gamma-ray detector These photos covered nearly four million
3) magnetometer square kilometers of the lunar surface. The
4) radiation detectors high-gain transmitter failed on the same day,
5) infrared radiometer but did not significantly affect the coverage
6) meteoroid detectors afforded by the photos. Lunar Orbiter 2
7) R-1 gear transmission experiment returned perhaps the most memorable photo
Results: Luna 12 was launched to complete the of any in the series, a spectacular shot
mission that Luna 11 had failed to accom- looking across the Copernicus crater from an
plish-take high-resolution photos of the altitude of only 45 kilometers, which vividly
Moon's surface from lunar orbit. Luna 12 suc- emphasized the three-dimensional nature of
cessfully reached the Moon on 25 October 1966 the lunar surface. On 8 December, after the
and entered a 133 x 1,200-kilometer orbit. The main photographic mission was over, Lunar
Soviet press released the first photos taken of Orbiter 2 fired its main engine to change its
the surface on 29 October--pictures that orbital plane in order to provide tracking
showed the Sea of Rains and the Aristarchus data of the Moon's gravitational field over a
crater. Resolution was as high as 15 to 20 wider swath. Finally, on 11 October 1967,
meters. Film was developed, fixed, dried auto- when attitude control gas was almost
matically, and scanned for transmission to depleted, a retro-burn deliberately crashed
Earth. No further photos were ever released. the spacecraft onto the lunar surface at 4°
After completing its main imaging mission, south latitude and 98 ° east longitude on the
Luna 12 was put into a spin-stabilized roll to far side to prevent communications interfer-
CmTy out its scientific mission, which was ful- ence on future missions.
filled quite successfully. Contact was finally
lost on 19 January 1967 after 302 communica- 77)
tions sessions. Luna 13
Nation: USSR (45)
76) 0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing
Lunar Orbiter 2 Spacecraft: Ye-6M (no. 205)
Nation: U.S. (32) Spacecraft Mass: 1,620 kg
0bjective(s): lunar orbit Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
Spacecraft: LO-B Lavochkin
Spacecraft Mass: 385.6 kg launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. N103-45_
Mission Design and Management: NASA LaRC Launch Date and Time: 21 December 1966 /
launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena D (no. 18 / Atlas 10:17 UT
D no. 5802 / Agena D no. AD122 / 6631) Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
Launch Date and Time: 6 November 1966 / Scientific Instruments:
23:21:00 UT l) TV cameras
launch Site: ETR / launch complex 13 2) infrared radiometer
3) penetrometer

_'Deep Spoce C_hromcIe .......

 4) radiation densitometer nium-tipped rods that were driven into the
5) radiation detector ground with a powerful force by small explo-
Results: Luna 13 became the second Soviet sive charges to measure soil density (found at
spacecraft to successfully soft-land on the roughly 0.8 grams per cubic centimeter). Four
surface of the Moon. The probe landed in the radiometers recorded infrared radiation from
Ocean of Storms at 18:01 UT on 24 December the surface indicating a noon temperature of
1966, between the Krafft and Seleucus 117 + 3°C while a radiation detector indi-
craters at 18o52 ' north latitude and 6203 ' cated that radiation levels would be less than

west longitude. Unlike its predecessor, hazardous for humans. The lander returned a
the heavier Luna 13 lander (113 kilograms) total of five panoramas of the lunar surface,
carried a suite of scientific instruments in showing a more smooth terrain than seen by
addition to the usual imaging system. A Luna 9. One of the two cameras (intended to
three-axis accelerometer within the pressur- return stereo images) failed, but this did not
ized frame of the lander recorded the landing diminish the quality of the photographs.
forces during impact to determine the soil After a fully successful mission, contact was
structure down to a depth of 20 to 30 cen- lost at 06:13 UT on 28 December when the

timeters. A pair of spring-loaded booms was onboard batteries were exhausted.

also deployed. Both were equipped with tita-

- -- 1966_
 1967
78) kilometers of the far side. On 30 August 1967,

Lunar Orbiter 3 ground controllers commanded the vehicle to

Nation: U.S. (33) circularize its orbit to 160 kilometers in order

0bjective(s): lunar orbit to simulate an Apollo trajectory. Later, on 9

Spacecraft: LO-C October 1967, the probe was intentionally

Spacecraft Mass: 385.6 kg crashed onto the lunar surface at 14036 '

Mission Design and Management: NASA LaRC north latitude and 91042 , west longitude. The

Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena D (no. 20 / Atlas photographs from the first three Lunar

D no. 5803 / Agena D no. AD128 / 6632) Orbiters allowed NASA scientists to pick

Launch Date and TJme: 5 February 1967 / eight preliminary landing sites for Apollo by
01:17:01 UT early April 1967, including site 2 in the Sea of
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 13 Tranquillity, where Apollo 11 would land, and
Scientific Instruments: site 5 in the Ocean of Storms, where Apollo 12

1) imaging system (and also Surveyor 3)would disembark.

2) micrometeoroid detectors
3) radiation dosimeters 79)

Results: Lunar Orbiter 3 was the final Lunar Surveyor 3

Orbiter mission to study potential Apollo Nation: U.S. (34)

landing sites; further missions would be ded- 0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing

icated to scientific and global surveys. The Spacecraft: Surveyor-C

spacecraft arrived in lunar orbit on 7 Spacecraft Mass: 997.9 kg

February 1967. Initial orbital parameters Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL

were 200 x 1,850 kilometers at 21 ° inclina- Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-12 /Atlas

tion. During its eight-month mission, the D no. 292 / Centaur D)

spacecraft took 211 frames of pictures, Launch Date and Time: 17 April 1967 /

although only 182 were actually returned to 07:05:01 UT

Earth because of a problem on 24 February Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36B

with the motor that rewound the fihn. Scientific Instruments:

Despite the minor glitch, Lunar Orbiter ful- 1) imaging system

filled its original mission objectives, 2) surface sampler

returning images of 15.5 million square kilo- Results: Surveyor 3 was the third engineering
meters of the near side and 650,000 square flight of the series; for the first time, it car-

.... " .......... 1967_

 Charles Conrad, Jr., Apollo 12 Commander, examines the unpiloted Surveyor 3 spacecraft during the second

extravehicular activity (EVA-2). The Lunar Module (LM) Intrepid is in the right background. This picture was taken

by astronaut Alan L. Bean, Lunar Module pilot. The Intrepid landed on the Moon's Ocean of Storms only 600 feet

from Surveyor 3. The television camera and several olher components were taken from Surveyor 3 and brought

back to Earth for scientific analysis. Surveyor 3 soft-landed on the Moon on 19 April 1967.

i t
 ried a soil-sampling instrument that could Scientific Instruments:
reach up to 1.5 meters from the lander and 1) imaging system
dig up to 0.5 meters deep. Unlike the pre- 2) micrometeoroid detectors
vious Surveyors, Surveyor 3 began its mis- 3) radiation dosimeters
sion from parking orbit around Earth with Resulls: Lunar Orbiter 4 was the first in the
a burn from the Centaur upper stage, now series dedicated to scientific surveys of the
capable of multiple firings. Although the Moon. After a burn at 21:54 UT on 8 May
landing radar cut out prematurely, basic 1967, the spacecraft entered a 2,705 x 6,034-
inertial control ensured that Surveyor 3 kilometer orbit inclined at 85.48 degrees,
landed on the lunar surface with minimal becoming the first vehicle to enter polar orbit
vertical velocity at 00:04:17 UT on 20 April around the Moon. Controllers successfully
1967 in the southeastern region of Oceanus overcame a problem with the Thermal
Procellarum, at 2°56 ' north latitude and Camera Door, and subsequently, during its
23°20 ' west longitude. A fairly strong side- two-month mission, the orbiter took pictures
ways motion made the lander hop twice of 99 percent of the near side and 75 percent
before coining to a standstill. Less than an of the far side of the Moon in a total of 193
hour after landing, the spacecraft began frames. The images had a resolution of up to
transmitting the first of 6,315 TV pictures 60 meters. In early June, controllers lowered
of the surrounding areas. The most exciting the spacecraft's orbit to match that of Lunar
experiment of the mission was the deploy- Orbiter 5 so that scientists could collect grav-
ment of the remote scooper arm, which, via itational data in support of the latter mission.
commands fi'om Earth, dug four trenches Before losing contact on 17 July, Lunar
and performed four bearing tests and thir- Orbiter 4 took the first photos of the lunar
teen impact tests. Based on these experi- south pole and discovered a 240-kilometer-
ments, scientists concluded that lunar soil long crustal fault on the far side. Since contact
had a consistency similar to wet sand, with was lost before controlled impact, the space-
a bearing strength of 0.7 kilograms per craft naturally crashed onto the Moon on 6
square centimeter--solid enough for an October 1967 due to gravitational anonmlies.
Apollo Lunar Module. Last contact was
made on 4 May 1967, two days after the 81)
lunar night began. More than three years Kosmos 159 / [Luna]
later, Apollo 12 astronauts Charles Conrad, Nation: USSR (46)
Jr., and Alan L. Bean landed the Intrepid 0bjective(s): highly elliptical orbit around
LM near the inactive Surveyor 3 lander on Earth
18 November 1969. The astronauts recov- Spacecraft: Ye-6LS (no. 111}
ered parts from Surveyor 3, including the Spacecraft Mass: unknown
soil scoop and camera system, to allow sci- Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
entists to evaluate the effects of nearly two Lavochkin
and one-half years of exposure on the Launch VebJcle: 8K78M (no. Ya716-56)
Moon's surface. Launch Date and Time: 16 May 1967 /
21:43:57 UT
8O) Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
Lunar Orbiter 4 Scientific Instruments: unknown
Nation: U.S. (35) Results: This spacecraft was a one-off high-
0hjective(s): lunar orbit apogee Earth satellite developed to acquire
Spacecraft: LO-D data on trajectory measurement techniques on
Spacecraft Mass: 385.6 kg future lunar orbital missions. By perfecting
Mission Design and Management: NASA LaRC such techniques, engineers could accurately
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena D (no. 22 /Atlas measure trajectories of future lunar orbiters
D no. 5804/Agena D no. AD131 /6633 affected by anomalies in the Moon's gravita-
Launch Date and Time: 4 May 1967 / tional field. Mission designers had planned to
22:25:00 UT send the probe into a highly elliptical orbit
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 13 with an apogee of 250,000 kilometers, but the

.. i967
 Blok L upper stage evidently cut off too early. kilometers altitude). The probe continued to

Instead, the spacecraft, named Kosmos 159, transmit for 93 minutes as it slowly fell
entered a lower orbit of 260 x 60,710 kilome- through the atmosphere. Initially, Soviet sci-
ters at 51.7 ° inclination. Despite the incorrect entists believed that the probe transmitted

orbit, controllers no doubt used the spacecraft until contact with the surface. In reality, trans-

for its original mission. No data is available on missions ceased at an altitude of 27 kilometers

when the ground lost contact with the space- when the high atmospheric pressure and tem-
craft. Kosmos 159 reentered Earth's atmos- peratures crushed the probe. The data implied
phere on 11 November 1967. that surface temperatures and pressure were
500°C and 75 atmospheres respectively.

82) Venera 4's gas analyzers also found that the

Venera 4 planet's atmosphere was composed of 90 to 95
Nation: USSR (47) percent carbon dioxide with no nitrogen. The
0blective(s): Venus impact spacecraft bus measured the planet's weak
Spacecraft: 1V (no. 310) magnetic field and found no ring of radiation
Spacecraft Mass: 1,106 kg belts. It detected a very weak atmosphere of

Mission Design and Management: GSMZ atomic hydrogen about 9,900 kilometers above
Lavochkin the planet. Venera 4 was the first spacecrai_ to
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M transmit data from a planet's atmosphere.
Launch Date and Time: 12 June 1967 /
02:39:45 UT 83)
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 Mariner 5
Scientific Instruments: Nation: U.S. (36)
Lander: 0bjective(s): Venus flyby
1) radio altimeter Spacecraft: Mariner-67E / Mariner-E
2) aneroid barometer Spacecraft Mass: 244.9 kg

3) eleven gas-analyzer cartridges Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL

4) two resistance thermometers Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena D (no. 23 / Atlas
5) ionization densitometer D no. 5401 / Agena D no. AD157 / 6933}
Bus: Launch Date and Time: 14 June 1967 /

1_ magnetometer 06:01:00 UT

2) cosmic-ray counters Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 12

3) charged-particle traps Scientific Instruments:

4t ultraviolet photometer 1) ultraviolet photometer

Results: Venera 4 was the first Venus probe 2) S-band occultation experiment

built by the Lavochkin design bureau, 3) dual-frequency occultation

although Lavochkin engineers retained the experiment
basic design layout of the earlier Korolev 4) solar plasma probe
probes. The spacecraft consisted of a main bus 5) magnetometer
about 3.5 meters high and a 383-kilogram 6) trapped-radiation detector
lander probe designed to transmit data as it 7) celestial mechanics experiment

descended through the Venusian atmosphere. Results: In December 1965, NASA approved a

This capsule was designed to endure loads as project to modify the Mariner 4 backup space-
high as 350 g and land on both land and liquid. craft to conduct a closer flyby of Venus than

For atmospheric entry, it was equipped with a the only other NASA probe to fly past Venus,
thick ablative heatshield. After a midcourse Mariner 2. Unlike Mariner 4, however,

correction on 29 July 1967, Venera 4 Mariner 5 did not carry an imaging instru-

approached Venus on 18 October and released ment. Initially, NASA had planned to send
the lander at 04:34 UT, immediately prior to Mariner 5 on a flyby at a miss distance of

entry of the bus. Parachuting into the planet's 8,165 kilometers, but the Agency altered its

atmosphere, the lander turned on its scientific plan in favor of a more modest 75,000-kilo-
instruments 5 minutes later when the rate of meter flyby in order to prevent the nonsteril-
descent lowered to 10 meters per second (at 55 ized vehicle from crashing into the planet.

*" Deep Space Chronicle .... _ ___

 After a midcourse correction on 19 June, 85)
Mariner 5 began transmitting data about Surveyor 4
Venus on 19 October during its encounter. Nation: U.S, (37)
Closest approach was at 17:34:56 UT at a 0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing
range of 4,094 kilometers. Mariner 5 found no Spacecraft: Surveyor-D
radiation belts trapped by Venus' magnetic Spacecraft Mass: 1,037.4 kg
field. The ultraviolet photometer detected a Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
hydrogen corona (as did the Soviet Venera 4), Launch Vehicle: Atlas Centaur (AC-11 /Atlas
but no oxygen emission. Mariner 5's instru- D no. 291 / Centaur D)
ments indicated that the planet's surface tem- Launch Date and Time: 14 July 1967 /
perature and pressure were 527°C and 75 to 11:53:29 UT

100 atmospheres respectively--which coun- Launch Site: ETR / ]aunch complex 36A
tered the Soviet claim that its Venera 4 space- Scientific Instruments:
craft had managed to transmit from the 1) imaging system
planet's surface. On 4 December 1967, NASA 2) surface sampler
lost contact with the spacecraft, although con- 3) soil magnet
trollers briefly regained contact on 14 October Results: Like Surveyor 3, Surveyor 4 was
1968. The spacecraft did not transmit any fur- equipped with a surface claw (with a magnet in
ther telemetry, and NASA eventually stopped the claw) to detect and measure ferrous ele-
attempts to communicate with the vehicle, ments in the lunar surface. The mission was
now in heliocentric orbit. completely successful until all communications
were abruptly lost 2 seconds prior to retro-
84 ) rocket cutoffat 02:03 UT on 17 July 1967, with
Kosmos 167 / [Venera] only 2.5 minutes left to landing on the Moon.
Nation: USSR (48) The landing target was Sinus Medii (Central
0bjective(s): Venus impact Bay) at 0.4 ° north latitude and 1.33 ° west lon-
Spacecraft: 1V (no. 311) gitude. NASA concluded that the lander might
Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,100 kg have exploded when contact was lost.
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
Lavochkin 86)
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M Explorer 35 / International Monitoring Platform 6
Launch Date and Time: 17 June 1967 / Nation: U.S. (38)
02:36:38 UT 0bjective(s): lunar orbit
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 Spacecraft: IMP-E
Scientific Instruments: Spacecraft Mass: 104.3 kg
Lander: Mission Design and Management: NASA GSFC
1) radio altimeter Launch Vehicle: Thor-Delta E-1 (no. 50 /Thor
2) aneroid barometer no. 488 / DSV-3E)
3) eleven gas-analyzer cartridges Launch Date and Time: 19 July 1967 /
4) two resistance thermometers 14:19:02 UT
5) ionization densitometer Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17B
Bus: Scientific Instruments:
1) magnetometer 1) magnetometers
2) cosmic-ray counters 2) thermal ion detector
3) charged-particle traps 3) ion chambers and Geiger tubes
4) ultraviolet photometer 4) Geiger tubes and p-on-n junction
Results: This identical twin craft to Venera 4 5) micrometeoroid detector
failed to leave Earth orbit when its Blok L 6) Faraday cup
transinterplanetary stage failed to fire, appar- Results: Explorer 35 was designed to study
ently because the engine's turbopump had not interplanetary space phenomena--particu-
been cooled prior to ignition. The spacecraft larly the solar wind, the interplanetary mag-
remained stranded in Earth orbit and reen- netic field, dust distribution near the Moon,
tered Earth's atmosphere on 25 June 1967. the lunar gravitational field, the weak lunar

1967 .
This image from Lunar Orbiter 5 shows crater Copernicus, 93 kilometers wide and located within the Mare
Imbrium Basin at the northern near side of the Moon (10 ° north latitude and 20 ° west longitude). The picture shows
the crater floor, floor mounds, rim, and rayed ejecta. Rays from the ejecta are superposed on all other surrounding
terrains, which places the crater in its namesake age group: the Copernican system, established as the youngest
assemblage of rocks on the Moon.

ionosphere, and the radiation environment. Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Agena D (no. 24 / Atlas

The spacecraft left Earth on a direct ascent D no. 5805 / Agena D no. AD159 / 6634)
trajectory and entered lunar orbit on 21 July Launch Date and Thne: 1 August 1967 /
1967. Initial orbital parameters were 800 x 22:33:00 UT

7,692 kilometers at 147 ° inclination. The Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 13

spacecraft, similar to Explorer 33, also in Scientific Instruments:

lunar orbit, found that the Moon has no mag- 1) imaging system

netosphere, that solar wind particles impact 2) micrometeoroid detectors

directly against the surface, and that the 3) radiation dosimeters

Moon creates a "cavity" in the solar wind Results: Lunar Orbiter 5 was the last in a

stream. After six years of successful opera- series of highly successful missions to map the
tion, the satellite was turned off on 24 June Moon for potential landing sites and conduct
1973. Explorer 35 was launched by the general observational surveys. Two days after
fiftieth Thor-Delta booster, of which only a midcourse correction on 3 August, it entered

three had failed, giving the booster a success lunar orbit at 16:48 UT. Initial orbital para-

rating of 94 percent. meters were 196 x 6,040 kilometers at 85.0 °

inclination. The spacecraft photographed
87) thirty-six different areas on the near side and
Lunar Orbiter 5 mapped most of the far side via a set of 212
Nation: U.S. (39) frames during its first month in orbit. These
Oblective(s): lunar orbit included five potential Apollo landing sites,

Spacecraft: LO-E as well as possible targets tbr Surveyor mis-

Spacecraft Mass: 385.6 kg sions. Controllers also extensively used the

Mission Design and Management: NASA LaRC spacecraft to map the Moon's gravitational
field in order to predict orbital perturbations
onfuturelunarorbitalmissions. Theprobe be composed of more than half oxygen with
alsoobtainedspectacular high-quality
photos amounts of silicon and aluminum. Contact
ofEarthshowing AfricaandtheMiddleEast. was lost with the lander on 16 December 1967.
LunarOrbiter5 wascommanded tolandon
thelunarsurface anddidsoat0° northlati- 89)
tudeand70° westlongitudeon31January no name / [Zond]
1968.In total,the fiveLunarOrbiterspho- Nation: USSR (49)
tographed99percent ofthelunarsurface. 0bjective(s): circumlunar flight
Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 4L)
88) Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg
Surveyor 5 Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM
Nation: U.S. (40) Launch Vehicle: 8K82K +Blok D (Proton-K no.
Objective(s): lunar soft-landing 229-01 /B]ok D no. 12L)
Spacecraft: Surveyor-E Launch Date and lime: 27 September 1967 /
Spacecraft Mass: 1,006 kg 22:11:54 UT
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L
Launch Vehicle: At]as-Centaur (AC-13 / Atlas Scientific Instruments: unknown
3C no. 5901C / Centaur D-1A) Results: This spacecraft, a 7K-L1 type, was the
Launch Date and Thne: 8 September 1967 / first of a series of spacecraft that the Soviets
07:57:01 UT tried to send on circumlunar missions as part
Launch Site: ETR, launch complex 36B of a larger project to send cosmonauts around
Scientific Instruments: the Moon. The program, which was officially
1) imaging system approved in October 1965, was set off by two
2) alpha-scattering instrument technological flights in Earth orbit in March
3) surface sampler and April 1967. The 7K-L1 spacecraft was a
4) footpad magnet stripped-down version of the larger 7K-OK
Results: Brilliantly overcoming a near-fatal Soyuz spacecraft intended for Earth-orbital
helium leak in a pressure regulator, engineers operations. During this launch, one of the six
from JPL and Hughes Aircraft Company (the first-stage engines failed to fire because of
prime contractor for the spacecraft) managed blockage of a propellant line, and the launch
to safely deposit Surveyor 5 on the surface of vehicle was destroyed at T+97.4 seconds.
the Moon in the south-eastern region of Mare
Tranquillitatis at 1°25 ` north latitude and 90)
23°11 ' east longitude at 00:46:42 UT on 11 Surveyor 6
September 1967. The malfunction put the Nation: U.S. (41)
lander about 29 kilometers away from its 0bjective(s): lunar soft-landing
target in an angular incline within the slope of Spacecraft: Surveyor-F
the rimless crater. Surveyor 5 was, however: Spacecraft Mass: 1,008.3 kg
the most successful of the series. The lander Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
returned 18,006 photos before lunar night Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-14 /
descended on 24 September. Controllers suc- Atlas 3C no. 5902C / Centaur D-1A)
cessfully commanded the vehicle to take fur- launch Date and Time: 7 November 1967 /

ther photographs during the second lunar day 07:39:01 UT

between 15 and 24 October 1967 and the Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36B
fourth lunar day in December. In total, 20,018 Scientific Instruments:

pictures were transmitted. In another expert- 1) imaging system

ment, on 13 September, controllers fired the 2) alpha-scattering instrument
main engine fbr 0.55 seconds to examine the 3) surface sampler
effects of disturbing the lunar surface. NASA 4) footcomplex magnet
announced that no new craters were created, Results: Sm_eyor 6 landed safely on the Moon
nor was there any significant dust cloud. The at 01:01:04 UT on 10 November 1967 in the
alpha-scattering instrument had earlier been Sinus Medii (Central Bay) at 2.45 ° south lati-
released onto the surface and found the soil to tude and 43.21 ° west longitude. The spacecraft

m 67
returned29,952images ofthelunarsurface Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC
duringlessthantwoweeks ofoperationbefore Launch Vehicle: Thor-Delta E-1 (no. 55 /Thor
the onsetof lunar nighton 24 November. no. 489 / DSV-3E)
Althoughcontrollers
regained contactbriefly Launch Date and Time: 13 December 1967 /
on14December 1967,primarylandingopera- 14:08 UT
tionshadceasedbythistime.On 17 November Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17B
1967, before termination of operations, Scientific Instruments:
Surveyor 6 was commanded to fire its three 1) single-axis fluxgate magnetometer
main liquid-propellant thrusters for 2.5 sec- 2} plasma analyzer
onds. As a result, the lander became the first 3) cosmic-ray telescope
spacecraft to be launched from the lunar sur- 4) radio-wave propagation experiment
face. Surveyor 6 lifted up to about 3 meters 5) cosmic-ray gradient detector
before landing 2.5 meters west of its original 6) electric field detector
landing point. Cameras then studied the orig- 7) cosmic dust detector
inal landing footprints in order to determine 8) celestial mechanics experiment
the soil's mechanical properties and, now that Results: Pioneer 8, like its two predecessors,
the source point had been displaced, also was sent to heliocentric orbit to study inter-
accomplish some stereo imaging. planetary space, particularly to carry collected
information on magnetic fields, plasma, and
91) cosmic rays. Although the spacecraft carried a
no name / [Zond] different complement of scientific instruments
Nation: USSR (50) from those of Pioneers 6 and 7, its findings
0bjective(s): circumlunar flight were correlated with those of the other two
Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 5L) probes. The spacecraft was launched into a
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg path ahead of Earth to provide the vehicle
Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM with added velocity in solar orbit in order to
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K move out beyond Earth's orbit at 1.0 x 1.1. AU.
no. 230-01 / Blok D no. 13L) It arrived at Earth's magnetospheric bounds
Launch Date and Time: 22 November 1967 [ at 19:00 UT on 15 December 1967. Later, on 18
19:07:59 UT January 1968, Pioneer 8, the Sun, and Earth
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P were perfectly aligned to allow investigation of
Scientific Instruments: unknown Earth's magnetic tail in detail, first performed
Results: This was the second Soviet attempt at by Pioneer 7 in 1968. Controllers have inter-
a robotic circumlunar mission. On this launch, mittently maintained contact with the space-
one of the four second-stage engines of the craft for nearly thirty years, although only one
Proton rocket failed to ignite at T+125.5 sec- instrument, the electric field detector,
onds due to a break in the engine nozzle. The remained operational past 1982. During
wayward booster was then destroyed on com- tracking on 23 July 1995, NASA was unable to
mand from the ground at T+129.9 seconds. switch on Pioneer 8's transmitter, probably
because the spacecraft was too far away from
92) the Sun to charge the solar panels. On 22
Pioneer 8 August 1996, contact was reacquired via a
Nation: U.S. (42) backup transmitter. The electric field detector
0bjective(s): heliocentric orbit remains functional as of June 2001, nearly
Spacecraft: Pioneer-C thirty-six years after launch.
Spacecraft Mass: 65.36 kg
 1968
93) few craters, much like the mare sites,
Surveyor 7 although the general area was rougher. About
Nation: U.S. (43) 21 hours after landing, ground controllers
Objective(s): lunar soft-landing fired a pyrotechnic charge to drop the alpha-
Spacecraft: Surveyor-G scattering instrument on the lunar surface.
Spacecraft Mass: 1,040.1 kg When the instrument failed to move, con-
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL trollers used the robot arm to force it down.
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-15 /Atlas The scoop on the arm was used numerous
3C no. 5903C / Centaur D-1A) times for picking up soil, digging trenches,
Launch Date and Time: 7 January 1968 / and conducting at ]east sixteen surface-
06:30:00 UT bearing tests. Apart from taking 21,274 pho-
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36A tographs (many of them in stereo), Surveyor
Scientific Instruments: 7 also served as a target for Earth-based
1) imaging system lasers (of 1-watt power) to accurately
2! alpha-scattering instrument measure the distance between Earth and the
3) surface sampler Moon. Although it was successfully reacti-
4) footpad magnet vated after the lunar night, Surveyor 7
Results: Since Surveyors 1, 3, 5, and 6 success- finally shut down on 21 February 1968. In
fully fulfilled requirements in support of total, the five successful Surveyors returned
Apollo, NASA opted to use the last remaining more than 87,000 photos of the lunar surface
Surveyor for a purely scientific mission out- and demonstrated the feasibility of soft-
side of exploring a potential landing site for landing a spacecraft on the lunar surface.
the early Apollo flights. After an uneventful
coast to the Moon, Surveyor 7 successfully set 94)
down at 01:05:36 UT on 10 January 1968 on no name / [Luna]
the ejecta blanket emanating from the bright Nation: USSR (51)
Tycho crater in the south of the near side. 0bjective(s): lunar orbit
Landing coordinates were 40.86 ° south lati- Spacecraft: Ye-6LS (no. 112)
tude and 11.47 ° west longitude, about 29 kilo- Spacecraft Mass: unknown
meters north of Tycho's rim and 2.4 Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
kilometers from the craft's target. Initial Lavochkin
photos from the surface showed surprisingly Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. Ya716-57)

............. i 68 ..
 Launch Date and Time: 7 February 1968 / Spacecraft: Ye-6LS (no. i13)
10:43:54 UT Spacecraft Mass: unknown
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
Scientific Instruments: unknown Lavochkin
Results: During launch to Earth orbit, the Launch Vehicle: 8K78M (no. Ya716-58)
third-stage engine cut offprematurely because Launch Date and Time: 7 April 1968 /
of an excessive propellant consumption rate 10:09:32 UT
via the gas generator. The spacecraft never Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1

reached Earth orbit. The goal of the mission Scientific Instruments: unknown

was evidently to test communications systems Results: Luna 14 successfully entered lunar
in support of the N1-L3 human lunar landing orbit at 19:25 UT on 10 April 1968. Initial
program. orbital parameters were 160 x 870 kilometers
at 42 ° inclination. The primary goal of the
95) flight was to test communications systems in
Zond 4 support of the NI-L3 piloted lunar landing
Nation: USSR (52_ project. Ground tracking of the spacecraft's
Objective(s): deep space mission orbit also allowed controllers to accurately
Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 6L) map lunar gravitational anomalies in order to
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg predict trajectories of future lunar missions
Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM such as those of the LOK and LK lunar
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. landing vehicles. Luna 14 also carried scien-
232-01) tific instruments to study cosmic rays and
Launch Date and Time: 2 March 1968 / charged particles f_om the Sun, although few
18:29:23 UT details have been revealed.
Launch Site: NI[P-5 / launch site 81L
Scientific Instruments: unknown 97)
Results: The Soviets decided to send this next no name / [Zond]
7K-L1 spacecraft, not on a circumlunar flight, Nation: USSR (54)
but to about 330,000 kilometers into deep 0bjective(s): circumlunar flight
space in the opposite direction of the Moon in Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 7L)
order to test the main spacecraft systems Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg
without the perturbing effects of the Moon Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM
(much like the Surveyor model test flights in Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton K no.
1965 and 1966). The spacecraft was success- 232-01 / Blok D no. 15L/
fully boosted on its trajectory and reached an Launch Date and Time: 22 April 1968 /
apogee of 354,000 kilometers. During the 23:01:27 UT

flight, although a key attitude-control sensor Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P
worked only intermittently, controllers man- Scientific Instruments: unknown
aged to aim the spacecraft for a guided reentry Results: During this third attempt at a circum-
back into Earth's atmosphere. Unfortunately, lunar mission, the Proton rocket's second-
the same sensor failed at reentry, preventing stage engine spuriously shut down at
the vehicle from maintaining stable orienta- T+194.64 seconds due to an erroneous signal
tion. Instead, Zond 4 began to carry out a direct from the payload. The emergency rescue
ballistic reentry for landing in the Indian system was activated, and the 7K-L1 capsule
Ocean. An emergency destruct system, how- was later recovered about 520 kilometers from

ever, destroyed the returning capsule over the the launch pad.
Gulf of Guinea to prevent foreign observers
from recovering the wayward spacecraft. 98)
Zond 5
96 ) Nation: USSR (55)
Luna 14 0bjective(s): circumlunar flight
Nation: USSR (53) Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 9L)
0hjective(s): lunar orbit Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg

_DeeP SPaCeCh_°njcle -- _---____ . T .......

Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM 4) cosmic-ray gradient detector
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D upper stage 5) radio wave propagation experiment
(Proton-K no. 234-01 / Blok D no. 17) 6) electric field detector

Launch Date and Time: 14 September 1968 / 7) cosmic dust detector

21:42:11 UT 8) celestial mechanics experiment
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L Results: Pioneer 9 was the fourth in a series of
Scientific Instruments: probes designed to study interplanetary
1) biological payload space from heliocentric orbit. In its 297.5-day
2) radiation detectors orbit at 0.75 x 1.0 AU, the cylindrical, spin-
3) imaging system stabilized spacecraft obtained valuable data
Results: Zond 5 was the first Soviet spacecraft on the properties of the solar wind, cosmic
to complete a successful circumlunar mis- rays, and interplanetary magnetic fields. The
sion-after three failures. During the flight to Delta launch vehicle also carried the Test and
the Moon, the main stellar attitude control Training Satellite (TETR-B), which was put
sensor failed due to contamination of the into Earth orbit to test ground-based commu-
sensor's optical surface. Controllers used less nications systems in support of the Apollo
accurate backup sensors to perform two mid- program. NASA maintained contact with
course corrections. The spacecraft successfully Pioneer 9 until 19 May 1983. Subsequent
circled around the far side of the Moon at a attempts to use Search for Extraterrestrial
range of 1,950 kilometers on 18 September, Intelligence (SETI) equipment to establish
taking high-resolution photos of the Moon and contact with the probe on 3 March 1987
Earth. On the return leg of the flight, a second failed, and the Agency officially declared the
attitude-control sensor failed and the space- spacecraft inactive.
craft's three-axis stabilization platform
switched off the guided reentry system. As a 100 )
result, Zond 5 performed a direct ballistic Zond 6

reentry (instead of a guided one) and splashed Nation: USSR (56)

down safely in the backup target area in the Objective(s): circumlunar flight
Indian Ocean at 32°38 ' south latitude and Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 121,)
65°33 ' east longitude, about 105 kilometers Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg
from the nearest Soviet tracking ship. Landing Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM
time was 16:08 UT on 21 September. Zond 5 Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no.

carried an extensive biological payload 235-01 / Blok D no. 19)

including two steppe tortoises to measure the Launch Date and Time: 10 November 1968 /

effects of circumlunar flight. The tortoises sur- 19:11:31 UT

vived the trip and were returned to Moscow. Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L
Scientific Instruments:
99) 1) biological payload
Pioneer 9 2) radiation detectors
Nation: U.S. (44) 3) imaging system
Objective(s): solar orbit 4) photo-emulsion camera
Spacecraft: Pioneer-D 5) micrometeoroid detector
Spacecraft Mass: 65.36 kg Results: Zond 6 was the second spacecraft that
Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC the Soviets sent around the Moon. Soon after
Launch Vehicle: Thor-Delta E-1 (no. 60 / Thor translunar injection, ground controllers dis-
no. 479 / DSV-3E) covered that the vehicle's high-gain antenna
Launch Date and Time: 8 November 1968 / had failed to deploy. Given that the main atti-
09:46:29 UT tude-control sensor was installed on the
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17B antenna boom, controllers had to make plans
Scientific Instruments: to use a backup sensor for further attitude
1) triaxial fluxgate magnetometer control. The spacecraft circled the far side of
2) plasma analyzer the Moon at a range of 2,420 kilometers, once
3) cosmic-ray-anisotropy detector again taking black-and-white photographs of

m Z]
 theMoon.Duringthereturnflight,tempera- successfully
carrieda fullyautomated guided
turesin a hydrogen peroxide tank for the reentryinto the primarylandingzonein
attitude-control
thrustersdropped farbelow Kazakhstan.A radioaltimeter,notdesigned
acceptablelevels.Engineers attemptedto forworkin depressurized spacecraft,
issued
heatthetankbydirectsunlight,but asthey an incorrectcommand to jettisonthe main
laterdiscovered,
sucha procedure affected parachutes.
Asa result,thespacecraft plum-
the weakpressurization sealof the main metedto the groundand wasdestroyed.
hatchandledto slowdecompression ofthe Althoughthe mainbiologicalpayloadwas
maincapsule. Despitethe failures,Zond6 lost,rescuers
salvaged filmfromthecameras.

_--DeepSpace Chronicle _- _ ......................................

 1969
101) a similar bus-lander system as the 1V-type
Venera 5 spacecraft (flown as Venera 4), the two new
Nation: USSR (57) landers (each weighing 405 kilograms! were
0bjective(s): Venus landing designed to endure g-loads as high as 450
Spacecraft: 2V (no. 330) tas opposed to 300 for their predecessors).
Spacecraft Mass: 1,130 kg The landers also used smaller parachutes
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ for descent, allowing the probes to descend
Lavochkin faster through the atmosphere to increase
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M chances of operating close to the surface.
Launch Date and Time: 5 January 1969 After performing seventy-three communica-
06:28:08 UT tions sessions with ground control and com-
Launch Site: NIIP-5 /]aunch site 1 pleting one midcourse correction on 14
Scientific Instruments: March 1966, Venera 5 approached the dark
Lander: side of Venus on 16 May 1969 and detached
1) radio altimeter its lander, whose speed reduced from
2) aneroid barometer 1,100.17 meters per second to 210 meters
3) eleven gas analyzer cartridges per second after it hit the Venusian atmos-
4) two resistance thermometers phere at 06:01 UT. One minute later, con-
5) ionization densitometer trollers reestablished contact with the

611 photoelectric sensors lander and began receiving transmitted

Bus: data on pressure, temperature, and compo-
1) magnetometer sition of the Venusian atmosphere for 53
2) cosmic-ray counters minutes. Contact was lost at an altitude of

3) charged-particle traps about 24 to 26 kilometers when the pres-

4) ultraviolet photometer sure exceeded 26.1 atmospheres. Impact
Results: Veneras 5 and 6 were two identical coordinates were 3 ° south latitude and 18 °

spacecraft designed to penetrate Venus's longitude. Information extrapolated from

atmosphere and transmit a variety of scien- Venera 5's data suggested that ground tern-
tific to Earth during descent. Both space- perature and pressure at the Venusian sur-
craft were targeted to reach Venus only a face were 140 atmospheres and 530°C,
day apart, thus allowing some cross-calibra- respectively.
tion of data. Although both spacecraft used
102) about 400°C. This compared with Venera 4's
Venera 6 readings, which indicated pressure at 75
Nation: USSR (58) atmospheres and temperature at 500°C.
Objective(s): Venus landing
Spacecraft: 2V (no. 331) 103)
Spacecraft Mass: 1,130 kg no name / [Zend]
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ Nation: USSR (59)
Lavochkin Objective(s): circumlunar flight
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 13L)
Launch Date and Time: 10 January 1969 / Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg
05:51:52 UT Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1 Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K
Scientific Instruments: no. 237-01)
Lander: Launch Date and Time: 20 January 1969 /
1) radio altimeter 04:14:36 UT
2) aneroid barometer Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L

3) eleven gas-analyzer cartridges Scientific Instruments: unknown

4) two resistance thermometers Results: This was the sixth attempt at a
5) ionization densitometer robotic circumlunar flight in support of the
6) photoelectric sensors L1 piloted lunar program and the first after
Bus: the resounding success of the American
1) magnetometer Apollo 8 in December 1968. The Proton
2) cosmic-ray counters launch vehicle lifted off on time, and first-
3) charged-particle traps stage operation was nominal. However,
4) ultraviolet photometer during second-stage firing, one of the four
Results: Identical to Venera 5, Venera 6 engines of the stage mysteriously switched
reached Venus after performing sixty-three off at T+313.66 seconds. The other engines
communications sessions with Earth and one continued firing, but subsequently, the pri-
midcourse correction at a range of 15.7 mil- mary third-stage engine also switched off
lion kilometers from Earth on 16 March during its firing sequence at T+500.03 sec-
1969. Its 405-kilogram lander separated from onds due to a breakdown in the main pipeline
the main bus 25,000 kilometers from the feeding fuel to the fuel gas generator: After a
planet and entered the Venusian atmosphere near-ballistic flight, the L1 payload landed
at a velocity of 11.17 kilometers per second at near the border between the USSR and
06:05 UT on 17 May 1969. The Venera 6 cap- Mongolia.
sule transmitted data for 51 minutes before
contact was lost, probably at an altitude of 104)
about 10 to 12 kilometers. Pressure was sim- no name / [Luna]
ilar at the time to that measured by Venera 5 Nation: USSR (60)

at a much higher altitude, indicating that 0bjective(s): lunar roving operations

Venera 6 may have come down over a moun- Spacecraft: Ye-8 (no. 201)
tain or high plateau. Landing coordinates Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,700 kg
were -5 ° latitude and 23 ° longitude. Results Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
from the Venera 5 and 6 missions, published Lavochkin

by the Soviets in March 1970, seemed to con- Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton no.
firm and sharpen earlier findings from 239-01)
Venera 4. The two new spacecraft found that Launch Date and Time: 19 February 1969 /
Venus's atmosphere was composed of roughly 06:48:15 UT

93 to 97 percent carbon dioxide (the Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P

remainder was split among nitrogen, oxygen, Scientific Instruments:

and inert gases). Data from Venera 6 sug- 1) imaging system (two low-resolution
gested that the ground pressure was about 60 TVs and four high-resolution
atmospheres and ground temperature was photometers)
 2) x-rayspectrometer four years. On this first launch, the N1 carried
3) penetrometer a basic 7K-L1 spacecraft (openly known as
4) laserreflector Zond) modified for operations in lunar orbit
5) radiationdetectors (rather than for circumlunar flight). Known as
6) x-raytelescope the 7K-L1S, the spacecraft was equipped with
7) odometer/speedometer an Engine Orientation Complex (DOK) for
Results:
TheYe-8represented the"thirdgen- attitude control in lunar orbit. During the
eration"of Sovietroboticlunarprobes. The launch, two first-stage engines initially shut
basicYe-8comprised a landerstage(the down, but the remainder of the engines oper-
"KT")toppedoffbyaneight-wheeled, remote- ated until T+70 seconds when the control
controlledlunar rover (the "8YeL")for system shut them down. The booster crashed
exploringthe Moon'ssurface.Essentially a about 50 kilometers from the launch site, and
pressurized magnesium alloycontaineron the payload successfully used its launch
wheels,the 8YeLwasdesigned to operate escape system to descend without problem 32
overa periodof threelunardays(roughly to 35 kilometers from the pad. Investigators
threeEarth months)and collect scientific believed that booster failed when a pipe for
data from various points on the lunar sur- measuring fuel pressure broke at T+23.3 sec-
face. This first attempt to put the rover on the onds that set in motion a sequence of events
Moon was a complete failure. At T+51 sec- that led to a huge fire at T+54.5 seconds in the
onds, the payload stack disintegrated and the tail of the first stage. The fire short-circuited
booster eventually exploded. Later investiga- the control system and shut down all the
tion indicated that maximum dynamic pres- engines at approximately T+70 seconds.
sure during the ascent trajectory tore a new
payload shroud off at its weakest tension 106)
points. Despite an intensive effort, searchers Mariner 6
were unable to find the polonium-20 radioac- Nation: U.S. (45)
tive isotope heat source in the rover. 0bjective(s): Mars flyby
Unconfirmed rumors still abound that sol- Spacecraft: Mariner-69F / Mariner-F
diers at the launch site used the isotope to Spacecraft Mass: 381 kg
heat their barracks during the bitter winter Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
of 1968. Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-20 / Atlas
3C no. 5403C / Centaur D-1A)
105) Launch Date and Time: 25 February 1969 /
no name / [N1 launch test] 01:29:02 UT
Nation: USSR (61) Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36B
0bjective(s): lunar orbit Scientific Instruments:
Spacecraft: 7K-L1S (no. 2) 1) imaging system (two TV cameras)
Spacecraft Mass: 6,900 kg 2) infrared spectrometer
Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM 3) ultraviolet spectrometer
Launch Vehicle: N1 (no. 15003) 4) infrared radiometer
Launch Date and Time: 21 February 1969 / 5) celestial mechanics experiment
09:18:07 UT 6) S-band occultation experiment
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 110P Results: Mariners 6 and 7, identical spacecraft
Scientific Instruments: unknown intended to fly by Mars, were the first
Results: This was the first attempted launch of Mariner spacecraft launched by the Atlas-
the giant N1 booster as part of early test oper- Centaur, permitting a heavier instrument
ations in the Soviet piloted lunar landing pro- suite. Both spacecraft were intended to study
gram. N1 development began in 1962 after the surface and atmosphere of Mars during
two years of initial R&D on heavy booster close flybys. All onboard instrumentation was
designs. Although the first launch had been designed to collect data on Mars; there were
originally planned for 1965, a major redesign no experiments for study of interplanetary
of the booster in 1964 and financial and orga- space. The 3.35-meter-tall spacecraft was
nizational difficulties delayed the launch by constructed around an eight-sided magne-

m75
 siumframework with fourrectangularsolar 8) low-energy ion spectrometer
panelsfor449wattspower. Theheartofthe 9) imaging system Ithree cameras}
spacecraft was the 11.8-kilogram Control Results: The M-69 series of Mars spacecraft
Computer andSequencer (CC&S), whichwas was the first of a new generation of Mars
designed to operateMarinerindependently probes designed by the Lavochkin design
withoutinterventionfromgroundcontrol. bureau for launch on the heavy Proton booster.
Afteramidcourse correction
on1March1969 Although the 1969 missions were originally
and preliminaryimagingsessions(fifty meant for both Mars orbit and landing, weight
photos)on28July,Mariner6 flewbyMarsat constraints late in mission design forced engi-
05:19:07UTon31Julyatadistance of3,429 neers to delete the lander and focus only on a
kilometers.Just 15minutespriorto closest Mars orbit mission. The probes were designed
approach(justsouthoftheMartianequator), around a single large spherical tank to which
thetwoTVcameras onascanplatformbegan three pressurized compartments were
takingphotosof the planetautomatically attached. After two en route midcourse correc-
every42seconds. Duringa periodof17min- tions, the spacecraft were intended to enter
utes, Mariner 6 took twenty-fournear- orbit around Mars at roughly 1,700 x 34,000
encounter photosthatwerestoredandlater kilometers at 40 ° inclination. After an initial
transmittedto Earth.Thephotosshowed photography mission, the probes would lower
heavilycratered andchaotic areasnotunlike their pericenter to about 500 to 700 kilometers
partsoftheMoon.Images ofthesouthpolar for a second imaging mission. Total mission
regionshowed intriguingdetailof anirreg- lifetime would be about three months. During
ularborder. Thescientificinstrumentsindi- the launch of the first M-69, the Proton's third
catedthat the polarcapgaveoff infrared stage stopped firing at T+438.66 seconds, after
radiation consistentwith solid carbon its turbopump had caught on fire because of a
dioxide.Mariner6 foundsurfacepressure to faulty rotor bearing. The probe, scheduled to
be equalto about30.5kilometersabove reach Mars orbit on 11 September 1969, never
Earth'ssurface.Atmosphericcomposition even reached Earth orbit.
wasabout98percent carbondioxide.Surface
temperatures rangedfrom-73°Cat nightto 108)
-125°Catthesouthpolarcap. Mariner 7
Nation: U.S. (46)
107) Objective(s): Mars flyby
no name / [Mars] Spacecraft: Mariner-69G
Nation: USSR (62) Spacecraft Mass: 381 kg
0bjective{s): Mars orbit Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
Spacecraft: M-69 (no. 5211 Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-19 / Atlas
Spacecraft Mass: c. 3,800 kg 3C no. 5105C / Centaur D-1A)
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ Launch Date and Time: 27 March 1969 /
Lavochkin 22:22:01 UT
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton no. Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36A
240-01 Scientific Instruments:
Launch Date and Time: 27 March 1969 / 1) imaging system (two TV cameras)
10:40:45 UT 2) infrared spectrometer
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L 3) ultraviolet spectrometer
Scientific Instruments: 4) infrared radiometer
1) radiometer 5) celestial mechanics experiment
2) instrument to measure water vapor 6) S-band occultation experiment
levels Results: Identical to Mariner 6, Mariner 7 had
3) ultraviolet spectrometer a similar mission of flying by Mars. After
4) radiation detector Mariner 6 had returned intriguing photos of
5) gamma spectrometer Mars's south polar cap, controllers repro-
6) hydrogen/helium mass spectrometer grammed Mariner 7's control system to
7) spectrometer increase the number of scans of the south pole

,. Deep
Deep Spoce Chronicle
for the second spacecraft from twenty-five to 4) radiation detector
thirty-three. Following a perfect midcourse 5) gamma spectrometer
correction on the way to Mars on 8 April 1969, 6) hydrogen/helium mass spectrometer
on 30 July, just 7 hours before Mariner 6 was 7) spectrometer
scheduled to fly by Mars, the deep space 8) low-energy ion spectrometer
tracking station at Johannesburg, South 9) imaging system (three cameras)
Africa, lost contact with the spacecraft's high- Results: The second M-69 spacecraft was iden-
gain antenna. One of two stations in Madrid, tical to its predecessor (launched six days
Spain, was diverted from its original mission before) and was intended to enter orbit around
of tracking Pioneer 8 and joined the search for Mars on 15 September 1969. Like its twin, it
Mariner 7. Fortunately, the Pioneer station at never reached intermediate-Earth orbit. At

Goldstone picked up faint signals from the launch, at T+0.02 seconds, one of the six first-
spacecraft. Controllers sent commands to stage engines of the Proton exploded.
Mariner 7 to switch to the low-gain antenna, Although the booster lifted off using the
which worked well afterwards. Despite prob- remaining five engines, it began veering off
lems with positional calibration, Mariner 7 course and eventually assumed horizontal
recorded ninety-three far-encounter and attitude, at which point all the remaining
thirty-three near-encounter images of the first-stage engines shut down. At T+41 sec-
planet, showing heavily cratered terrain very onds, the booster impacted 3 kilometers from
similar to images recorded by Mariner 6. The the launch site in a massive fireball.

closest approach to Mars was at 05:00:49 UT

on 5 August 1969, at a distance of 3,430 kilo- 110)
meters. Oddly, despite the high resolution of no name / [Luna]
300 meters, Mariner 7 found the center of Nation: USSR (64)
Hellas to be devoid of craters. The spacecraft 0bjective(s): lunar sample return
found a pressure of 3.5 millibars and a tem- Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 402)
perature of-90°F at 59 ° south latitude and Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,700 kg
28 ° east longitude in the Hellespontus region, Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
suggesting that this area was elevated about Lavochkin

6 kilometers above the average terrain. One Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D

photo from Mariner 7 showed the moon (Proton no. 238-01)

Phobos. Although surface features were not Launch Date and Time: 14 June 1969 /
visible, the picture clearly showed the moon to 04:00:47 UT
be irregularly shaped. Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P
Scientific Instruments:
109) 1) stereo imaging system
no name / [Mars] 2) remote arm for sample collection
Nation: USSR (63) 3) radiation detector
Objective(s): Mars orbit Results: The Ye-8-5 was a variant of the basic
Spacecraft: M-69 (no. 522) Ye-8 lunar rover spacecraft developed by the
Spacecraft Mass: c. 3,800 kg Lavochkin design bureau. This particular ver-
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ sion, whose development began in 1968, was
Lavochkin designed to recover a small portion of soil from
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton no. the lunar surface and return it to Earth. It had
233-01) the same basic lander stage ("KT') as that of
Launch Date and Time: 2 April 1969 / the rover variant (built around a structure
10:33:00 UT comprising four spherical propellant tanks
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P linked together in a square), which was
Scientific Instruments: installed with a robot arm to scoop up lunar
1) radiometer soil. The rover was replaced by a new "ascent
2) instrument to measure water vapor stage" that was built around three spherical
levels propellant tanks that consisted of a main
3) ultraviolet spectrometer rocket engine to lift off from the Moon, a pres-
surizedcompartment for electronics,
anda 0bjective(s): lunar sample return
small,39-kilogramsphericalcapsulethat Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 401)
woulddetachfrom the stageandreenter Spacecraft Mass: 5,700 kg
Earth'satmosphere withitsvaluable payload Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
oflunardust.Onthefirst launchattemptof Lavochkin
theYe-8-5 robotscooper,thefirstthreestages Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D
ofthe Protonworkedwithoutfault,but the (Proton no. 242-01)
BlokDfourthstage, whichwastofiretoattain Launch Date and Time: 13 July 1969 /
orbitalvelocity,
failedtoigniteduetoadisrup- 02:54:42 UT
tionin thecircuitofitsguidance system.The Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P
spacecraftreenteredEarth'satmosphere over Scientific Instruments:
thePacificwithoutreaching orbit. 1) stereo imaging system
2) remote arm for sample collection
111) 3) radiation detector
no name / [N1 test flight] Results: Luna 15, launched only three days
Nation: USSR (65) before the historic Apollo 11 mission to the
0bjective(s): lunar orbit Moon, was the second Soviet attempt to
Spacecraft: 7K-LIS recover and bring lunar soil back to Earth. In
Spacecraft Mass: c. 6,900 kg a race to reach the Moon and return to Earth,
Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM the parallel missions of Luna 15 and Apollo 11
Launch Vehicle: N1 (no. 15005) were, in some ways, the culmination of the
Launch Date and Time: 3 July 1969 / Moon race that defined the space programs of
20:18:32 UT both the United States and the Soviet Union
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site ll0P in the 1960s. After a midcourse correction the
Scientific Instruments: unknown day after launch, Luna 15 entered lunar orbit
Results: This was the second attempt to launch at 10:00 UT on 17 July 1969. The spacecraft
the giant N1 rocket. As with its predecessor, its remained in lunar orbit for two days while
payload consisted of a basic 7K-L1 ("Zond") controllers checked all onboard systems and
spacecraft equipped with additional instru- performed two orbital maneuvers. After astro-
mentation and an attitude-control block to nauts Armstrong and Aldrin had already set
enable operations in lunar orbit. Moments foot on the Moon, Luna 15 fired its main retro-
after launch, the first stage of the booster rocket engine to initiate descent to the surface
exploded in a massive inferno that engulfed at 15:47 UT on 21 July 1969. Unfortunately,
the entire launch pad and damaged nearby transmissions ceased only 4 minutes after
buildings and structures for several kilome- deorbit at a calculated altitude of 3 kilometers.
ters around the area. Amazingly, the payload's The spacecraft had probably crashed onto the
launch escape system operated without fault, side of a mountain, hnpact coordinates were
and the Zond descent apparatus (or descent 17 ° north latitude and 60 ° east longitude in
module) was recovered safely 2 kilometers Mare Crisium.
from the pad. An investigation commission
traced the cause of the failure to the entry of a 113)
foreign object into the oxidizer pump of one of Zond 7
the first-stage engines at T-0.25 seconds. The Nation: USSR (67)
ensuing explosion started a fire that began to 0bjective(s): circumlunar flight
engulf the first stage. The control system shut Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 11)
down all engines except one by T+10.15 sec- Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg
onds. The booster lifted about 200 meters off Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM
the pad and then came crashing down in a Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D
massive explosion. (Proton no. 243-01)
Launch Date and Time: 7 August 1969 /
112) 23:48:06 UT
Luna 15 Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L
Nation: USSR (66)
Scientific Instruments: stage of the booster developed a problem that
1) biological payload eventually culminated in complete loss of pres-
2) radiation detectors sure at T+213 seconds, only 4 seconds prior to
3) imaging system main-engine cutoff of the first stage. Although
Results: Following a spate of partial successes second-stage performance was nominal, there
and catastrophic failures, Zond 7 was the first was no way to compensate for the large
fully successful Soviet circumlunar mission. pointing error introduced by the malfunctions
The spacecraft had been the last 7K-L1 vehicle in the first stage. With the booster veering off
manufactured for robotic flight. In the original course, ground control sent a command to
schedule, the next flight would have been destroy the vehicle at T+484 seconds. Pioneer-E
piloted. Like its predecessors, Zond 7 carried a was the last in a series of probes intended for
set of biological specimens, including four male studying interplanetary space from heliocentric
steppe tortoises that were part of a group of orbit. An additional payload on the Thor-Delta
thirty selected for an experiment. After a mid- L was a Test and Training Satellite (TETR) to
course correction on 8 August, the spacecraft test the Apollo ground tracking network.
successfully circled the far side of the Moon
two days later at a range of 1,200 kilometers. 115)
Zond 7 performed color imaging sessions on 8 Kosmos 300 / [Luna]
August (of Earth) and 11 August (two sessions Nation: USSR (68)
of both Earth and the Moonl. The only major Objective(s): lunar sample return
malfunction during the mission was the Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 403)
failure to deploy the main parabolic antenna Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,700 kg
(due to a problem in the securing cables), but Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
this did not prevent fulfillment of all the pri- Lavochkin

mary goals of the mission. Zond 7 successfully Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton no.

carried out a guided reentry over Earth's 244-01)

atmosphere and landed without problem Launch Date and Time: 23 September 1969 /
south of Kustanay in Kazakhstan after a 6- 14:07:36 UT
day 18-hour 25-minute flight. Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P
Scientific Instruments:
114) 1) stereo imaging system
Pioneer 21 remote arm for sample collection
Nation: U.S. (47) 31 radiation detector
Objective(s}: solar orbit Results: This was the third attempt to send a
Spacecraft: Pioneer-E sample return spacecraft to the Moon (after
Spacecraft Mass: 65.4 kg failures in June and July 196911. On this
Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC attempt, the spacecraft successfully reached
Launch Vehicle: Thor-Delta L (no. 73 / Thor no. Earth orbit but failed to inject itself on a
540) translunar trajectory. Later investigation indi-
Launch Date and Time: 27 August 1969 / cated that the Blok D upper stage had failed to
15:59 UT fire a second time for translunar injection
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17A because of a problem with a fuel injection
Scientific Instruments: valve that had become stuck during the first
1) three-axis magnetometer firing of the Blok D (for Earth orbital inser-
2) cosmic-ray telescope tion). As a result, all the liquid oxygen in the
3) radio propagation detector Blok D was depleted. The Soviet press named
4) electric field detector the vehicle Kosmos 300 without alluding to its
5) quadrispherical plasma analyzer lunar goal. The payload's orbit decayed about
6) cosmic-ray-anisotropy detector four days after launch.
7) cosmic dust detector
8) celestial mechanics experiment 116)
Results: At T+31 seconds in the launch of this Kosmos 305 / [Luna]
Pioneer probe, the hydraulics system of the first Nation: USSR (69)

1969
 Objective(s):
lunar sample return Results: Exactly one lunar month after the

Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 404) failure of Kosmos 300, the Soviets launched

Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,700 kg another Ye-8-5 lunar sample return space-

Mission Design and Management: GSMZ craft. Once again, the spacecraft failed to leave
Lavochkin Earth orbit. When the Blok D upper stage was
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton no. meant to fire for translunar injection,
241-01) telemetry readings went off scale and commu-
Launch Date and Time: 22 October 1969 / nications were lost. There had apparently
14:09:59 UT been a programming failure in one of the
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P radio-command blocks designed to command
Scientific Instruments: the Blok D to fire. The Soviet press merely

1) stereo imaging system referred to the probe as Kosmos 305. The

2) remote arm for sample collection spacecraft's orbit decayed over Australia
3) radiation detector before the craft completed a single orbit of
Earth.

° Deep Space Chronicle

 1970
117) 118)
no name / [Luna] Venera 7
Nation: USSR (70) Nation: USSR (71)
0bjective(s): lunar sample return Objective(s): Venus landing
Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 405) Spacecraft: 3V (no. 630)
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,700 kg Spacecraft Mass: 1,180 kg
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ Mission Design and Management; GSMZ
Lavochkin Lavochkin
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton no. Launch Vehicle: 8K78M
247-01 Launch Date and Time: 17 August 1970 /
Launch Date and Time: 6 February 1970 / 05:38:22 UT
04:16:06 UT Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81 Scientific Instruments:
Scientific Instruments: Bus:
1) stereo imaging system 1) solar wind detector
2) remote arm for sample collection 2) cosmic-ray detector
3) radiation detector Lander:
Results: This attempt continued the spate of 1) resistance thermometer
failures on the robotic lunar sample return 2) aneroid barometer
program. On this fifth attempt to recover soil Results: Venera 7 was one of a pair of spacecraft
from the Moon, the Proton booster failed to prepared by the Soviets in 1970 to make a sur-
deposit its payload in Earth orbit. An erro- vivable landing on the surface of Venus. The
neous command shut down the second stage spacecraft were quite similar in design to
at T+127 seconds, and the booster was Veneras 4, 5, and 6, with a main bus and a
destroyed. Subsequently, the design organi- spherical lander (now with a mass of 500 kilo-
zation responsible for the Proton, the grams). After the last mission, engineers
TsKBM, implemented a thorough review of redesigned the landing capsule to withstand
the Proton's performance and completed a pressures of up to 180 atmospheres and tem-
simple suborbital diagnostic flight in August peratures of up to 540°C. Venera 7 successfully
1970 to verify corrective measures. left Earth orbit and implemented two mid-
course corrections on 2 October and 17
November, respectively, before beginning its

- _ i i -i .... ,970
 Venus encounter operations on 12 December engine of the Blok L upper stage was late in
1970 when the lander probe's batteries were igniting and cut off early (after only 25 sec-
charged up (using solar panels on the bus) and onds) due to incorrect operation of a sequencer
the internal temperature lowered. At 04:58:44 and a failure in the DC transformer in the
UT on 15 December, the lander separated from power supply system. The payload remained
the bus and entered the Venusian atmosphere stranded in orbit, eventually reentering
at an altitude of 135 kilometers and a velocity Earth's atmosphere on 6 November 1970. The
of 11.5 kilometers per second. When aerody- spacecraft was named Kosmos 359 by the
namic drag had reduced velocity down to 200 Soviet press to disguise the failure.
meters per second at an altitude of 60 kilo-
meters, the parachute system deployed. 120)
Within 35 minutes, at 05:34:10 UT, the capsule Luna 16
was on the Venusian landscape. Although Nation: USSR (73)
transmissions appeared to have ended at the 0bjective(s): lunar sample return
moment of landing, Soviet ground tracking Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 406)
stations recorded what at first proved to be Spacecraft Mass: 5,727 kg
unintelligible noise. After computer processing Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
of the data, Soviet scientists discovered a valu- Lavochkin
able 22 minutes 58 seconds of information Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no.
from the capsule---the first transmissions of 248-01)
spacecraft from the surface of another planet. Launch Date and Time: 12 September 1970 /
Quite likely, the initial loss of signal occurred 13:25:53 UT
when the capsule tipped over on its side. Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L
Venera 7's data indicated a surface tempera- Scientific Instruments:
ture of 475 _ 20°C and a pressure of 90 + 15 1) stereo imaging system
atmospheres. The information was a good fit 2) remote arm for sample collection
with previous Soviet and American estimates. 3) radiation detector
Impact point was 5 ° south latitude and 351 ° Results: tuna 16 was a landmark success for
longitude. the Soviets in their deep space exploration
program; the mission accomplished the first
119) fully automatic recovery of soil samples from
Kosmos 359 / [Venera] the surface of the Moon. The success came
Nation: USSR I72) after five failures. After a successful coast to
Objective(s): Venus landing the Moon (which included one midcourse cor-
Spacecraft: 3V (no. 631) rection), Luna 16 entered circular lunar orbit
Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,200 kg (at 110 kilometers with a 70 ° inclination) on
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ 17 September. Two further orbital adjust-
Lavochkin ments on 18 and 19 September altered both
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M altitude and inclination in preparation for
Launch Date and Time: 22 August 1970 I descent to the Moon. At perilune at 05:12 UT
05:06:09 UT on 20 September, Luna 16 fired its main
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31 engine to begin its descent to the surface. Six
Scientific Instruments:
minutes later, the spacecraft safely soft-landed
Bus: in its target area at 0°41 ' south latitude and
1) solar wind detector 56°18 ' east longitude, in the northeast area of
2) cosnfic-ray detector the Sea of Fertility, approximately 100 kilo-
Lander: meters east of Webb crater. The mass of the
1) resistance thermometer spacecraft at landing was 1,880 kilograms.
2} aneroid barometer Less than an hour after landing, at 06:03 UT,
Results: This was the second of a pair of probes an automatic drill penetrated the lunar sur-
designed to land on Venus and transmit infor- face to collect a soil sample. After drilling for
mation back to Earth. In this case, after the 7 minutes, the drill reached a stop at 35 mil-
spacecraft had reached Earth orbit, the main limeters depth and then withdrew its sample

DeepSpace Chronicle ......

 and lifted it in an arc to the top of the space- the spacecraft performed a simple ballistic
craft, depositing the precious cargo in a small (instead of a guided) reentry into Earth's
spherical capsule mounted on the main space- atmosphere. The vehicle's descent module
craft bus. Finally, at 07:43 UT on 21 splashed down safely in the Indian Ocean at
September, the spacecraft's upper stage lifted 13:55 UT on 27 October about 730 kilometers
off from the Moon. Three days later, after a southeast of the Chagos Islands, 24 kilometers
direct ascent traverse with no midcourse cor- from its original target point.
rections, the capsule, with its 105 grams of
lunar soil, reentered Earth's atmosphere at a 122)
velocity of 11 kilometers per second. The cap- Luna 17 / Lunokhod 1
sule parachuted down 80 kilometers southeast Nation: USSR (75)
of the town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 0bjective(s): lunar roving operations
05:25 UT on 24 September 1970. Analysis of Spacecraft: Ye-8 (no. 203)
the dark basalt material indicated a close Spacecraft Mass: 5,700 kg
resemblance to soil recovered by the American Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
Apollo 12 mission. Lavochkin
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no.
121) 251-01)
Zond 8 Launch Date and Time: 10 November 1970 /
Nation: USSR (74) 14:44:01 UT
Objective(s): circumlunar flight Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L
Spacecraft: 7K-L1 (no. 14) Scientific Instruments:
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 kg 1) imaging system (two low-resolution
Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM TVs and four high-resolution
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K photometers)
no. 250-01 I 2) x-ray spectrometer
Launch Date and Time: 20 October 1970 / 3) penetrometer
19:55:39 UT 4) laser reflector
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L 5) radiation detectors
Scientific Instruments: 61 x-ray telescope
1) solar wind collector packages 7) odometer/speedometer
2) imaging system Results: Luna 17 continued the spate of suc-
Results: Zond 8 was the last in the series of cir- cesses in Soviet lunar exploration begun by
cumlunar spacecraft designed to rehearse a Luna 16 and Zond 8. Luna 17 carried
piloted circumlunar flight. The project was ini- Lunokhod 1, the first in a series of robot lunar
tiated in 1965 to compete with the Americans roving vehicles whose conception had begun in
in the race to the Moon but lost its importance the early 1960s, originally as part of the
once three astronauts circled the Moon on the piloted lunar landing operations. This was the
Apollo 8 mission in December 1968. After a second attempt to land such a vehicle on the
midcourse correction on 22 October at a dis- Moon after a failure in February 1969. The
tance of 250,000 kilometers from Earth, Zond 8 descent stage was equipped with two landing
reached the Moon without any apparent prob- ramps for the "ascent stage," that is, the rover,
lems, circling its target on 24 October at a to disembark onto the Moon's surface. The
range of 1,200 kilometers. The spacecraft took 756-kilogram rover stood about 1.35 meters
black-and-white photographs of the lunar sur- high and was 2.15 meters across. Each of its
face during two separate sessions. After two eight wheels could be controlled indepen-
midcourse corrections on the return leg, Zond 8 dently for two forward and two reverse speeds.
flew a return over Earth's northern hemi- Its top speed was about 100 meters per hour,
sphere instead of the standard southern with commands issued by a five-man team of
approach profile, allowing Soviet ground con- "drivers" on Earth who had to deal with the 5-
trol stations to maintain near-continuous con- second delay. The set of scientific instruments
tact with the ship. The guidance system was powered by solar cells (installed on the
evidently malfunctioned on the return leg, and inside of the hinged top lid of the rover) and
 The Soviet Moon lander, Lunokhod 1_

chemical batteries. After two midcourse cor- the rover traveled 10.54 kilometers and
rections en route to the Moon, Luna 17 entered returned more than 20,000 TV images and
lunar orbit and then landed on the lunar sur- 206 high-resolution panoramas. In addition,
face at 03:46:50 UT on 17 November 1970 at Lunokhod 1 performed twenty-five soil
38o17 ' north latitude and 35 ° west longitude, analyses with its RIFMA x-ray fluorescence
about 2,500 kilometers from the Luna 16 site spectrometer and used its penetrometer at 500
in the Sea of Rains. The Lunokhod 1 rover different locations. Controllers finished the

rolled over the ramps and onto the lunar sur- last communications session with Lunokhod 1
face at 06:28 UT. The rover had an expected at 13:05 UT on 14 September 1971. Attempts
lifetime of three lunar days but operated for to reestablish contact were finally discon-
eleven. During its 322 Earth days of operation, tinued on 4 October.

'' _D_eePSpace _Ch;°nicle ..... __ . i.

 1971
123) malfunction occurred in the stage's flight-
Mariner 8 control system, leading to loss of pitch control
Nation: U.S. (48) at an altitude of 148 kilometers at T+4.7 min-

Objective(s): Mars orbit utes. As a result, the stack began to tumble

Spacecraft: Mariner-71H / Mariner-H and the Centaur engines shut down. The stage
Spacecraft Mass: 997.9 kg and its payload reentered Earth's atmosphere
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL approximately 1,500 kilometers downrange
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-24 / Atlas from the launch site.
3C no. 5405C / Centaur D-1A)
Launch Date and Time: 9 May 1971 / 124)
01:11:01 UT Kosmos 419 / [Mars]
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36A Nation: USSR (76)
Scientific Instruments: 0bjective(s): Mars orbit
1) imaging system Spacecraft: M-71S (no. 170)
2) ultraviolet spectrometer Spacecraft Mass: 4,549 kg
3) infrared spectrometer Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
4) infrared radiometer Lavochkin

5) S-band occultation experiment Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no.

6) celestial mechanics experiment 253-01)
Results: Mariner-71H (also called Mariner-H) Launch Date and Time: 10 May 1971 /
was the first of a pair of American spacecraft 16:58:42 UT

intended to explore the physical and dynamic Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L
characteristics of Mars from Martian orbit. Scientific Instruments:

The overall goals of the series were to search 1) fluxgate magnetometer

for an environment that could support life; to 2) infrared radiometer
collect data on the origin and evolution of the 3) infrared photometer
planet; to gather information on planetary 4) spectrometer
physics, geology, planetology, and cosmology; 5) photometer
and to provide data that could aid future 6) radiometer

spacecraft such as the Viking Landers. Launch 7) ultraviolet photometer

of Mariner-71H was nominal until just after 8) cosmic-ray detector
separation of the Centaur upper stage, when a 9) charged-particle spectrometer

m 85
 10)imagingsystem 7) photometer in visible part of electro-
11)Stereo
antenna magnetic spectrum
Results: Kosmos 419 was the first of the "fifth- 8) cosmic-ray particle detector
generation" Soviet Mars probes (after those 9) energy spectrometer
launched in 1960, 1962, 1963-64, and 1969). 10) spectrometer to determine water
The original plan was to launch two orbiter- vapor
lander combinations known as M-71 during 11) Stereo antenna
the 1971 Mars launch window, but in order to Lander:

preempt the American Mariner H/I vehicles, 1) gamma-ray spectrometer

Soviet planners added a third mission, the M- 2) x-ray spectrometer
71S, a simple orbiter that could become the 3) thermometer
first spacecraft to go into orbit around Mars. 4) wind velocity recorder
The orbiter could also collect data important 5) barometer

for aiming the two landers at precise loca- 6) imaging system (two cameras)
tions in the Martian system. The spacecraft 7) penetrometer (on mobile PROP-M)
entered Earth orbit successfully, but the Blok 8) gamma-ray densitometer
D upper stage failed to fire the second time to (on PROP-M)
send the spacecraft to Mars. Later investiga- Results: Mars 2 was the first of two orbiter-
tion showed that there was human error in lander combination spacecraft sent to Mars

programming the firing time for the Blok D; by the Soviets during the 1971 launch
an eight-digit code to fire the engine had been window. The orbiters were roughly cylindrical
issued by an operator in reverse order. The structures fixed to a large propellant tank
stranded spacecraft, which was named base. The landers were egg-shaped modules
Kosmos 419 by the Soviet press, reentered with petals that would open on the Martian
Earth's atmosphere within two days of surface. The 1,000-kilogram landers (of which
launch. The Soviets had promised the French 350 kilograms was the actual capsule) were
that two of their Stereo instruments would be fastened to the top of the bus and protected
sent to Mars. Since one was lost on Kosmos by a braking shell for entry into the Martian
419, Soviet officials were forced to lie about atmosphere. After jettisoning the shell, the
its ultimate fate to cover up the failure. landers would deploy parachutes to descend
to the Martian surface. On the Mars 2 trip to
125) the Red Planet, controllers performed two
Mars 2 successful midcourse corrections on 17 June

Nation: USSR (77) and 20 November 1971, respectively. On 27

0bjective(s): Mars orbit and landing November 1971, Mars 2 implemented its
Spacecraft: M-71 (no. 171) final midcourse correction, after which the
Spacecraft Mass: 4,650 kg lander probe separated to initiate atmos-
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ pheric entry. At this point, the onboard com-
Lavochkin puter was designed to implement final
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. corrections to the trajectory, spin the lander
255-01) around its longitudinal axis, and fire a solid-
Launch Date and Time: 19 May 1971 / propellant engine to initiate reentry in a spe-
16:22:44 UT cific direction. During the flight, after the
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P final midcourse correction, the trajectory of
Scientific Instruments: the spacecraft was so accurate that there was
Orbiter: no need for further corrective measures.

1) three-component magnetometer Because of pre-programmed algorithms that

2) infrared radiometer assumed a deviated trajectory, the lander was
3) radiotelescope put into an incorrect attitude after separa-
4) infrared photometer/CO,_ absorption tion to compensate for the "error." When the
strips reentry engine fired, the angle of entry
5) ultraviolet photometer proved to be far too steep. The parachute
6) imaging system (two cameras) system never deployed, and the lander even-
 The Soviet Mars 3 spacecraft.

tually crashed onto the Martian surface at 4 ° Orbiter:

north latitude and 47 ° west longitude. It was 1) three-component magnetometer
the first humanmade object to make contact 2) infrared radiometer
with Mars. Meanwhile, the Mars 3 orbiter 3) radiotelescope
successfully entered orbit around Mars at 4) infrared photometer/CO 2 absorption
20:19 UT on 27 November 1971. Parameters strips
were 1,380 x 25,000 kilometers at 48.9 ° incli- 5) ultraviolet photometer
nation, tSee entry under Mars 3 for the 6) imaging system (two cameras)
planned Mars 2 orbiter program.) 7) photometer in visible part of electro-
magnetic spectrum
126) 8) cosmic-ray particle detector
Mars 3 9) energy spectrometer
Nation: USSR (78) 10) spectrometer to determine water
0bjective(s): Mars orbit and landing vapor
Spacecraft: M-71 (no. 172) Lander:
Spacecraft Mass: 4,650 kg 1) gamma-ray spectrometer
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ 2) x-ray spectrometer
Lavochkin 3) thermometer
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. 4) wind velocity recorder
249-01) 5) barometer
Launch Date and Time: 28 May 1971 / 6) imaging system (two cameras)
15:26:30 UT 7) penetrometer (on mobile PROP-M)
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch sit, e 81L 8) gamma-ray densitometer
Scientific Instruments: (on PROP-MI
Results: Like its predecessor, Mars 3 was suc- Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-23 / Atlas
cessfully sent on a trajectory to the Red 3C no. 5404C / Centaur D-1A)
Planet. The spacecraft completed three mid- Launch Date and Time: 30 May 1971 /
course corrections on 8 June, 14 November, 22:23:04 UT
and 2 December 1971. At 09:14 UT on 2 Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36B
December 1971, the lander separated from the Scientific Instruments:
orbiter and, 4.5 hours later, began entry into 1) imaging system
the Martian atmosphere. Finally, at 13:47 UT, 2) ultraviolet spectrometer
the probe successfully set down intact on the 3) infrared spectrometer
Martian surface, becoming the first human- 4) infrared radiometer
made object to perform a survivable landing 5) S-band occultation experiment
on the planet. Landing coordinates were 45 ° 6) celestial mechanics experiment
south latitude and 158 ° west longitude. The Results: Mariner 9 was the second in the pair
bus, meanwhile, entered orbit around Mars of identical spacecraft launched in 1971 to
with parameters of 1,500 x 190,700 kilometers orbit Mars. The first spacecraft, Mariner 8,
at 48.9 ° inclination, significantly different failed to reach Earth orbit. Based on a wide

from the originally planned orbit. At 13:50:35 octagonal structure, these vehicles used a
UT, immediately after landing, the lander bipropellant propulsion system with a fixed
probe began transmitting a TV image of the thrust of 136 kilograms for orbital insertion
Martian surface, although transmissions around Mars. All scientific instrumentation
abruptly ceased after 20 seconds. Because of a on the spacecraft was mounted on a movable
violent dust storm that raged across the scan platform "underneath" the main bodies.
planet, controllers surmised that coronal dis- The span of the spacecraft over its extended
charge may have shorted all electric instru- solar panels was 6.9 meters. Following an en
mentation on the lander. The received image route midcourse correction on 5 June 1971,
showed only a gray background with no detail, Mariner 9 ignited its main engine for 915.6
probably because the two imaging "heads" had seconds on 14 November 1971 at 00:18 UT,
still not deployed in 20 seconds to their full becoming the first humanmade object to
height to see the surface. After the initial con- enter orbit around a planet. Initial orbital
tact, the ground lost all contact with the lander parameters were 1,398 x 17,916 kilometers
probe. The Mars 3 orbiter, like the Mars 2 at 64.3 ° inclination. The primary goal of the
orbiter, had problems with its imaging mis- mission was to map about 70 percent of the
sion. Because the orbiters had to perform their surface during the first three months of oper-
imaging mission soon after entering orbit, ation. The dedicated imaging mission began
they could not wait until the dust storms sub- in late November, but because of the major
sided on the surface. As a result, the orbiter dust storm at the planet during this time,
photographs showed few details of the surface. photos taken prior to about mid-January
Additionally. controllers had set the cameras 1972 did not show great detail. Once the dust
at the wrong exposure setting, making the storm had subsided, Mariner 9 began to
photos far too light to show much detail. return spectacular photos of the deeply
Despite the failure of the imaging mission, pitted Martian landscape, showing for the
both orbiters carried out a full cycle of scien- first time such features as the great system
tific experiments returning valuable data on of parallel rilles stretching more than 1,700
the planet until contact with both was lost kilometers across Mare Sirenum. The vast
almost simultaneously in July 1972. amount of incoming data countered the
notion that Mars was geologically inert.
127) There was some speculation on the possi-
Mariner 9 bility of water having existed on the surface
Nation: U.S. (49) during an earlier period, but the spacecraft
Objective(s): Mars orbit data could not provide any conclusive proof.
Spacecraft: Mariner-7tI / Mariner-I By February 1972, the spacecraft had identi-
Spacecraft Mass: 997.9 kg fied about twenty volcanoes, one of which,
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL later named Olympus Mons, dwarfed any
 similarfeatureon Earth.OlympusMons, 129)
partofNixOlympica--a "greatvolcanicpile" Luna 18
possiblyformedby the eruptionof hot Nation: USSR (79)
magma fromtheplanet'sinterior--is25kilo- 0bjective(s): lunar sample return
metershighandhasa basewith a diameter Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 407)
of 600kilometers. On 11 February1972, Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,750 kg
NASA announcedthat Mariner 9 had Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
achieved allitsgoals.
Bythetimeoflastcon- Lavochkin
tact at 22:32UT on 27 October1972,the Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no.
spacecraft had mapped85 percentof the 256-01 )
planetat a resolution of 1 to 2 kilometers, Launch Date and Time: 2 September 1971 /
returning7,329photos. 13:40:40 UT
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P
128) Scientific Instruments:
Apollo 15 Particle and Fields Subsatellite 1) stereo imaging system
Nation: U.S. (50) 2) remote arm for sample collection
0bjective(s): lunar orbit 3) radiation detector
Spacecraft: Apollo 15 P&FS 4) radio altimeter
Spacecraft Mass: 35.6 kg Results: This mission was the seventh Soviet
Mission Design and Management: NASA MSC attempt to recover soil samples from the sur-
Launch Vehicle: Apollo 15 CSM-112 (itself face of the Moon and the first after the suc-
launched by Saturn V SA-510) cess of Luna 16. After two midcourse
Launch Date and Time: 26 July 1971 / corrections on 4 and 6 September 1971, Luna
13:34:00 UT (subsatellite ejection on 4 18 entered a circular orbit around the Moon
August 1971 / 20:13:19 UT) on 7 September at 100 kilometers altitude
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 39A with an inclination of 35 ° . After several more
Scientific Instruments: orbital corrections, on 11 September, the
1) magnetometer vehicle began its descent to the lunar surface.
2) S-band transponder Unfortunately, contact with the spacecraft
3) charged-particle detectors was abruptly lost at 07:48 UT at the previ-
Results: This small satellite was deployed by ously determined point of lunar landing.
the Apollo 15 crew shortly before leaving Impact coordinates were 3o34 ' north latitude
lunar orbit. The probe was designed around a and 56°30 ' east longitude, near the edge of
35.6-centimeter-diameter hexagonal struc- the Sea of Fertility. Officially, the Soviets
ture that was equipped with three instru- announced that "the lunar landing in the
ment booms. Power supply came from solar complex mountainous conditions proved to be
panels and chemical batteries. The instru- unfavorable." Later, in 1975, the Soviets pub-
ments measured the strength and direction lished data from Luna 18's continuous-wave
of interplanetary and terrestrial magnetic radio altimeter that determined the mean
fields, detected variations in the lunar density of the lunar topsoil.
gravity field, and measured proton and elec-
tron flux. The satellite confirmed Explorer 130)
35's finding that while Earth's magnetic field Luna 19
deflects the incoming solar wind into a tail, Nation: USSR (80)
the Moon acts as a physical barrier due to its 0bjective(s): lunar orbit
weak field and creates a "hole" in the wind. Spacecraft: Ye-8LS !no. 202}
An electronic failure on 3 February 1972 for- Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,700 kg
mally ended the mission. Although it origi- Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
nally had a one-year design life, all mission Lavochkin
objectives were fulfilled. Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no.
257-01)

Launch Date and Time: 28 September 1971

10:00:22 UT
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P kilometers at 40.58 ° inclination. Soon after,
Scientific Instruments: the spacecraft began its main imaging mis-
1) imaging system sion-to provide panoramic images of the
2) gamma-ray spectrometer mountainous region of the Moon between 30 °
3) radio altimeter and 60 ° south latitude and between 20 ° and
4) meteoroid detectors 80 ° east longitude. Other scientific experi-
5) magnetometer ments included extensive studies on the
6) cosmic-ray detectors shape and strength of the lunar gravitation
7) radiation detectors field and the locations of mascons.
Results: Luna 19 was the first of"advanced" Occultation experiments in May and ,June
lunar orbiters whose design was based upon 1972 allowed scientists to determine the con-
the same Ye-8-class bus used for the lunar centration of charged particles at an altitude
rovers and the sample collectors. For these of 10 kilometers. Additional studies of the
orbiters, designated Ye-8LS, the basic "lander solar wind were evidently coordinated with
stage" was topped off by a wheelless those performed by the Mars 2 and 3 orbiters
Lunokhod-like frame that housed all scien- and Veneras 7 and 8. Communications with
tific instrumentation in a pressurized con- Luna 19 were terminated sometime between
tainer. Luna 19 entered orbit around the 3 and 20 October 1972 after a year of opera-
Moon on 2 October 1972 after two midcourse tions, during more than 4,000 revolutions of
corrections on 29 September and 1 October. the Moon.
Initial orbital parameters were 140 x 140
 1972
131) February 1972 at coordinates 3032 ' north lat-
Luna 20 itude and 56o33 ' east longitude, only 1.8 kilo-
Nation: USSR (81) meters from the crash site of Luna 18. After

Objective(s): lunar sample return collecting a small sample of lunar soil, the
Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no.408) spacecraft's ascent stage lifted off at 22:58
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,750 kg UT on 22 February and quickly accelerated to
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ 2.7 kilometers per second velocity--sufficient
Lavochkin to return to Earth. The small spherical cap-
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. sule eventually parachuted down safely on an
258-01) island in the Karkingir River, 40 kilometers
Launch Date and Time: 14 February 1972 north of the town of Dzhezkazgan in
03:27:59 UT Kazakhstan, at 19:19 UT on 25 February
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P 1972. The 55-gram soil sample differed from
Scientific Instruments: that collected by Luna 16 in that the majority
1) stereo imaging system (50 to 60 percent) of the rock particles in the
2) remote arm for sample collection newer sample were ancient anorthosite
3) radiation detector (which consists largely of feldspar) rather
4) radio altimeter than the basalt of the earlier one (which con-
Results: This was the eighth Soviet spacecraft tained about 1 to 2 percent of anorthosite).
launched to return lunar soil to Earth. It was Like the Luna 16 soil, samples of the Luna 20
evidently sent to complete the mission that collection were shared with American and
Luna 18 had failed to accomplish. After a 4.5- French scientists.

day flight to the Moon, which included a

single midcourse correction on 15 February, 132)
Luna 20 entered orbit around the Moon on 18 Pioneer 10

February. Initial orbital parameters were 100 Nation: U.S. (51)

x 100 kilometers at 65 ° inclination. Three Objective(s): Jupiter flyby
days later, at 19:13 UT, the spacecraft fired Spacecraft: Pioneer-F
its main engine for 267 seconds to begin Spacecraft Mass: 258 kg
descent to the lunar surface. A second firing Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC
further reduced velocity before Luna 20 set Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur [AC-27 /Atlas

down safely on the Moon at 19:19 UT on 21 3C no. 5007C / Centaur D-1A)

 © o

The Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft, which were the first humanmade objects to escape From the solar system into
interstellar space, carried this pictorial plaque. It was designed to show scientifically educated inhabitants of other
star systems, who might intercept it millions of years from now, when Pioneer was launched, from where, and by
what kind oF beings (with the hope that those who found the craft would not invade Earth]. The design is etched
into a 6-inch by 9-inch gold-anodized aluminum plate attached to the spacecraft's antenna support struts in a posi-
tion to help shield it from erosion by interstellar dust. The radiating lines at left represents the positions of 14 pul-
sars, a cosmic source of radio energy, arranged to indicate our sun as the home star of our civilization. The "1-"
symbols at the ends of the lines are binary numbers that represent the frequencies of these pulsars at the time oF
launch of Pioneers 10 and 11 relative of that to the hydrogen atom shown at the upper left with a "1" unity symbol.
The hydrogen atom is thus used as a "universal clock," and the regular decrease in the frequencies of the pulsars
will enable another civilization to determine the time that has elapsed since Pioneer was launched. Across the
bottom are the planets, ranging outward from the Sun, with the spacecraft trajectory arching away from Earth,
passing Mars, and swinging by Jupiter.

Launch Date and Time: 2 March 1972 / 10) Jovian trapped-radiation detector
01:49:04 UT ll) meteoroid detector
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36A Results: Pioneer 10, the first NASA mission to
Scientific Instruments: the outer planets, garnered a series of firsts
1) imaging photopolarimeter perhaps unmatched by any other robotic
2) magnetometer spacecraft in the space era: the first vehicle
3t infrared radiometer placed on a trajectory to escape the solar
4) plasma analyzer system into interstellar space; the first space-
5) ultraviolet photometer craft to fly beyond Mars; the first to fly
6) charged-particle composition through the asteroid belt; the first to fly past
instrument Jupiter; the first to use all-nuclear electrical
7) cosmic-ray telescope power; and the first humanmade object to
8) Geiger tube telescopes leave this solar system. After launch by a
9} asteroid/meteoroid detector three-stage version of the Atlas-Centaur (with

", Deep Space Chronicle

This
viewofJupiter
shows thegiant
planet's
cloud
topstaken bythePioneer 10spacecraftasitflewpast Jupiter
inDecember1973. This
viewwastaken from2,695,000 kilometers
away. Itshowsthe40,200-kilometer-long
GreatRedSpot,
which islargeenough1oswallow
upseveraJ Earths.
Individual cloud formationsarevisible in
somedetaikThebright
zonesappeartobecome splitupintothedetailed flowpatternsofJupiter's
atmosphere
andclouds.
Theareasurrounding
theSpotinthebrightSouth Tropical
Zone suggestsaflowpatternabout the
Spotthatbulges
toward thenorthbytheSpot.Thegigantic cloudswirls are thousands or more kilometers
across. Pioneer 10 flew past Jupiter in December 1973. A sister spacecraft, Pioneer 11, reached Jupiter in
December 1974. The Pioneer project was managed by NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View,
California. The spacecraft was built by TRW Systems ................................................

a TE-M-364-4 solid-propellant engine modified in recent record. The spacecraft entered

from the Surveyor lander}, Pioneer 10 reached Jupiter's bow-shock wave (where the solar

an initial speed of 51,800 kilometers per hour, wind interacts with the planet's magnetic

faster than any previous humanmade object. field) on 26 November, crossed the magneto-

There were some initial problems during the pause, reentered the magnetic field on 1

outbound voyage when direct sunlight caused December, and then crossed the magneto-

heating problems. On 15 July 1972, the space- pause for the second time. By the following
craft entered the asteroid belt, emerging in day, the spacecraft was returning better

February 1973 after a 435-million-kilometer quality photos than possible with the best

voyage through the relatively densely packed Earth-based telescopes--it had already begun

rings. During this period, the spacecraft imaging as early as 6 November 1973. Also
encountered some asteroid hits (although during this period, Pioneer 10 took about 300

many fewer than expected) and also measured photos of Jupiter that included images of the

the density of Zodiacal light in interplanetary planet's terminator and the Great Red Spot.

space. On 7 August, in conjunction with Command-and-return time was up to 92 min-

Pioneer 9 (in solar orbit), Pioneer 10 recorded utes by this time. Pioneer 10's closest approach
details of one of the most violent solar storms to Jupiter was at 02:25 UT on 4 December
 1973, whenthespacecraft racedbytheplanet 133)
ata rangeof 130,354 kilometers anda speed Venera 8
of132,000 kilometers perhour.Ofthespace- Nation: USSR (82)
craft'selevenscientific instruments, sixoper- 0bjective(s): Venus landing
atedcontinuously throughtheencounter. The Spacecraft: 3V (no. 670)
spacecraft passed bya series ofJovianmoons, Spacecraft Mass: 1,184 kg
obtaining photosof Callisto,Ganymede, and Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
Europa(butnot Io).Pioneer10fulfilledall Lavochkin
objectivesexcept one(thatonefailurewasdue Launch Vehicle: 8K78M
to falsecommands triggeredby Jupiter's Launch Date and Time: 27 March 1972 /
intenseradiation). Basedon incoming data, 04:15:01 UT
scientistsidentified plasmain Jupiter'smag- Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31
neticfield.The spacecraft crossed Saturn's Scientific Instruments:
orbitin February 1976,recording datathat Bus:
indicatedthat Jupiter'senormous magnetic 1) cosmic-ray detector
tail, almost800millionkilometers long,cov- 2) solar wind detector
eredthe wholedistancebetweenthe two 3) ultraviolet spectrometer
planets. Stilloperating nominally, Pioneer10 Lander:
crossed theorbitofNeptune (thentheouter- l) thermometer
mostplanet)on13June1983, thusbecoming 2) barometer
thefirsthumanmade object toescape thesolar 3) radio altimeter
system.Now the spacecraftis generally 4) photometer
headingin the directionof the red star 5) gamma-ray spectrometer
Aldebaran, a starthatformstheeyeof the 6) gas analyzer
Taurusconstellation. It isexpected topassby 7) wind speed recorder
Aldebaran in abouttwomillionyears.Incase Results: Venera 8 was the first in another pair
ofanintercept by intelligentlife,Pioneer10 of Soviet spacecraft designed to explore Venus.
carriesanaluminum plaque withdiagrams of Although similar in design to its predecessors,
amanandawoman, thesolarsystem, andits the 495-kilogram lander was substantially
location relativeto fourteenpulsars. Pioneer modified based on the Results from Venera 7.
10is headingout of the solarsystemin a The new capsule was designed to withstand
direction verydifferentfromthoseofthetwo pressures of "only" 105 atmospheres (versus
Voyagerprobesand Pioneer11, that is, 180 atmospheres on Venera 7) and carried
headingin anopposite directiontowardthe extra scientific instrumentation. After one
noseoftheheliosphere in anupstream direc- midcourse correction on 6 April 1972, Venera
tionrelativetotheinflowinginterstellargas. 8's lander separated from the flyby bus and
NASAofficiallyterminatedroutinecontact entered the Venusian atmosphere at 08:37 UT
with the vehicle at 19:35 UT on 31 March 1997 on 22 July 1972 at a velocity of 11.6 kilometers
for budgetary reasons, although intermittent per second. Successful landing took place at
contact continues (as permitted by the 09:32 UT, about 500 kilometers from the
onboard power source) with collection of data morning terminator on the sunlit side of
from the Geiger tube telescope and the Venus. Landing coordinates were 10 ° south
charged-particle instrument. For example, latitude and 335 ° longitude. The probe trans-
ground control received a signal from the mitted data for another 50 minutes 11 seconds
spacecraft on 28 April 2001. Pioneer 10 was from the hostile surface before succumbing to
the farthest humanmade object in existence ground conditions. The transmitted informa-
until 17 February 1998, when Voyager 1 tion indicated that temperature and pressure
exceeded its range. By 1 July 2001, Pioneer 10 at the landing site were 470 + 8°C and 90 + 1.5
was 11.83 billion kilometers from Earth, trav- atmospheres respectively. Wind speed was
eling at 12.24 kilometers per second relative to less than 1 kilometer per second below 10 kilo-
the Sun. meters altitude. The spacecraft also recorded a
sharp change in illumination between 30 and
35 kilometers altitude. The data indicate that
 visibilityonthegroundwasaboutonekilo- Scientific Instruments:
meteratthetimeVenera 8 landed. 1t magnetometer
2) S-band transponder
134) 3) charged-particle detectors
Kosmos 482 / _enera] Results: Nearly identical to its predecessor, the
Nation: USSR (83) Apollo 16 Particle and Fields Subsatellite was
0bjective(s): Venus landing ejected from the Apollo 16 Command and
Spacecraft: 3V (no. 671) Service Module about 4 hours prior to the
Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,180 kg crew's trans-Earth injection burn, which sent
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ them home from tbe Moon. Because of prob-
Lavochkin lems with the Apollo CSM main engine, the
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M crew was forced to release the subsatellite in a
Launch Date and Time: 31 March 1972 / low lunar orbit of 100 x 100 kilometers at 10 °
04:02:33 UT inclination. Thus, the probe eventually
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31 crashed onto the lunar surface after thirty-
Scientific Instruments: four days in orbit rather than the planned one
Bus: year. Impact point was at 10.2 ° north latitude
1) cosmic-ray detector and 112 ° east longitude at 21:00 UT on 29
21) solar wind detector May 1972. However, because of its low orbit,
3) ultraviolet spectrometer the spacecraft did return some valuable low-
Lander: altitude data.
1) thermometer
2) barometer 136)
3) radio altimeter no name / [N1 launch test]
4} photometer Nation: USSR (84)
51) gamma-ray spectrometer 0bjective(s): lunar orbit
61 gas analyzer Spacecraft: 7K-LOK (no. 6A}
7) wind speed recorder Spacecraft Mass: c. 9,500 kg
Results: This was the sister craft to Venera 8 Mission Design and Management: TsKBEM
daunched four days earlier). Unfortunately, Launch Vehicle: N1 (no. 15007)
the spacecraft never left Earth orbit. The Blok Launch Date and Time: 23 November 1972 /
L escape stage's main engine prematurely cut 06:11:55 UT
off after only 125 seconds of firing due to a Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 110L
failure in the onboard timer. As a result, the Scientific Instruments: unknown
spacecraft entered an elliptical orbit around Results: This was the fourth test launch of the
Earth. Officially, the Soviets named the probe giant Soviet N1 booster. The first two,
Kosmos 482 to disguise its true mission. The launched in 1969, attempted to send rigged-up
spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere in 7K-L1 ("Zond") spacecraft to lunar orbit. The
May 1981. third booster carried a payload mockup for
tests in Earth orbit. All three failed. This
135) fourth launch was intended to send a fully
Apollo 16 Particle and Fields Subsatellite equipped 7K-LOK spacecraft (similar to a
Nation: U.S. (52) beefed-up Soyuz) on a robotic lunar orbiting
0bjective(s): lunar orbit mission during which the spacecraft would
Spacecraft: Apollo 16 P&FS spend 3.7 days circling the Moon (over 42
Spacecraft Mass: 42 kg orbits), taking photographs of future landing
Mission Design and Management: NASA sites for piloted missions. The booster lifted off
Launch Vehicle: Apollo 16 CSM-113 (itself without problems, but a few seconds prior to
launched by Saturn V SA-511} first-stage cutoff, at T+107 seconds, a powerful
Launch Date and Time: 16 April 1972 / explosion ripped apart the bottom of the first
17:54:00 UT (subsatellite ejection on 24 stage, destroying Soviet hopes of ever sending
April 1972 / 09:56:09 UT) cosmonauts to the Moon. There was never a
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 39A conclusive reason for the explosion; some sug-

"= Deep Space Chron!c!e ...... ii ....... -'_

gested that there had been an engine failure, structural shock wave that eventually caused
and others were convinced that the scheduled the explosion.
shutdown of six central engines had caused a

1972
 1973
137) Parameters were 100 x 90 kilometers at 60 °
Luna 21 inclination. On 15 January, the spacecraft
Nation: USSR (85) deorbited and, after multiple engine firings,
Objective(s): lunar roving operations landed on the Moon at 22:35 UT the same day,
Spacecraft: Ye-8 (no. 204) inside the LeMonnier crater at 25o51 ' north
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,950 kg latitude and 30o27 ' east longitude, between
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ Mare Serenitatis and the Taurus Mountains.
Lavochkin Less than 3 hours later, at 01:14 UT on 16
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. January, the rover disembarked onto the
259-01) lunar surface. The 840-kilogram Lunokhod 2
Launch Date and Time: 8 January 1973 / was an improved version of its predecessor
06:55:38 UT and was equipped with a third TV camera, an
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L improved eight-wheel traction system, and
Scientific Instruments: additional scientific instrumentation. By the
1) imaging system (three low-resolution end of its first lunar day, Lunokhod 2 had
TVs and four high-resolution already traveled further than Lunokhod 1 in
photometers ) its entire operational life. On 9 May, the rover
2) x-ray spectrometer inadvertently rolled into a crater and dust
3) penetrometer covered its solar panels, disrupting tempera-
4) laser reflector tures in the vehicle. Attempts to save the
5) radiation detectors rover failed, and on 3 June, the Soviet news
6) x-ray telescope agency announced that its mission was over.
7} odometer/speedometer Before last contact, the rover took 80,000 TV
8) visible/ultraviolet photometer pictures and 86 panoramic photos and had
9) magnetometer performed hundreds of mechanical and chem-
10) photodetector ical surveys of the soil. The Soviets later
Results: Luna 21 carried the second successful revealed that during a conference on plane-
Soviet "8YeL" lunar rover, Lunokhod 2, and tary exploration in Moscow, 29 January to 2
was launched less than a month after the last February 1973 (that is, after the landing of
Apollo lunar landing. After a midcourse cor- Luna 21), an American scientist had given
rection the day after launch, Luna 21 entered photos of the lunar surface around the Luna
orbit around the Moon on 12 January 1973. 21 landing site to a Soviet engineer in charge
of the Lunokhod 2 mission. These photos, encounter, on 16 April 1975, the micromete-
taken prior to the Apollo 17 landing_ were oroid detector was turned off because it was
later used by the "driver team" to navigate the issuing spurious commands that were inter-
new rover on its mission on the Moon. fering with other instruments. Pioneer 11
detected Saturn's bow shock on 31 August
138) 1979, about 1.5 million kilometers out from
Pioneer 11 the planet, thus providing the first conclusive
Nation: U.S. (53) evidence of the existence of Saturn's magnetic
0bjective(s): Jupiter flyby, Saturn flyby field. The spacecraft crossed the planet's ring
Spacecraft: Pioneer-G plane beyond the outer ring at 14:36 UT on 1
Spacecraft Mass: 258.5 kg September 1979 and then passed by the
Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC planet at 16:31 UT for a close encounter at a
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-30 / Atlas range of 20,900 kilometers. It was moving at a
3D no: 5011D / Centaur D-1A) relative speed of 114,100 kilometers per hour
Launch Date and Time: 6 April 1973 / 02:11 UT at the point of closest approach. Among
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36B Pioneer ll's many discoveries was a narrow
Scientific Instruments: ring outside the A ring named the "F" ring and
1) imaging photopolarimeter a new satellite 200 kilometers in diameter. The
2) magnetometer spacecraft recorded the planet's overall tem-
3) infrared radiometer perature at -180°C and photographs indicated
4) plasma analyzer a more featureless atmosphere than that of
5) ultraviolet photometer Jupiter. Analysis of data suggested that the
6) charged-particle composition planet was primarily made of liquid hydrogen.
instrument After leaving Saturn, Pioneer I 1 headed out of
7) cosmic-ray telescope the solar system in a direction opposite to that
8) Geiger tube telescopes of Pioneer 10--that is, to the center of galaxy
9) asteroid/meteoroid detector in the general direction of Sagittarius. Pioneer
10) Jovian trapped radiation detector 11 crossed the orbit of Neptune on 23
11) meteoroid detector February 1990, thus becoming the fourth
12} fluxgate magnetometer spacecraft (after Pioneer 10 and Voyagers 1
Results: Pioneer 11, the sister spacecraft to and 2) to do so. By 1995, twenty-two years
Pioneer 10, was the first humanmade object to after launch, two instruments were still oper-
fly past Saturn and also returned the first pic- ational on the vehicle. NASA Ames Research
tures of the polar regions of Jupiter. After two Center finally terminated routine contact with
midcourse corrections (on 11 April 1973 and 7 the spacecraft on 30 September 1995.
November 1974), Pioneer 11 penetrated the Scientists received a few minutes of good engi-
Jovian bow shock on 25 November 1974. The neering data on 24 November 1995 but lost
spacecraft's closest approach to Jupiter final contact once Earth permanently moved
occurred at 05:22 UT on 3 December 1974 at a out of view of the spacecraft's antenna. Like
range of 42,760 kilometers from the planet's Pioneer 10, Pioneer ll also carries a plaque
cloud tops, three times closer than Pioneer 10. with a message for any intelligent beings.
It was traveling faster than any humanmade
object at the time--171,000 kilometers per 139)
hour. Because of its high speed during the Explorer 49
encounter, the spacecraft's exposure to radia- Nation: U.S. (54)
tion was much less than that of its prede- 0bjective(s}: lunar orbit
cessor. Pioneer 11 repeatedly crossed Jupiter's Spacecraft: RAE-B
bow shock, indicating that the Jovian magne- Spacecraft Mass: 330.2 kg
tosphere changes its boundaries as it is buf- Mission Design and Management: NASA GSFC
feted by the solar wind. Pioneer 11 used Launch Vehicle: Delta 1913 (no. 95 /
Jupiter's massive gravitational field to swing Thor no. 581)
back across the solar system to set itself on a Launch Date and Time: 10 June 1973 /

flyby course with Saturn. After its Jupiter 14:13:00 UT

Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17B 3) infrared radiometer
Scientific Instruments: 4) spectrophotometer
1) galactic studies experiment 5) narrow-band photometer
2) sporadic low-frequency solar radio 6) narrow-band interference-polariza-
bursts experiment tion photometer
3) sporadic Jovian bursts experiment 7) imaging system
4) radio emission from terrestrial 8) photometers
magnetosphere experiment 9) two polarimeters
5) cosmic source observation 10) ultraviolet photometer
experiment 1 l) scattered solar radiation photometer
Results: This was the final U.S. lunar mission 12) gamma spectrometer
for twenty-one years (until Clementine in 13) magnetometer
1994). Atter launch on a direct ascent trajec- 14) plasma traps
tory to the Moon and one midcourse correction 15) multichannel electrostatic analyzer
on 11 June, Explorer 49 fired its insertion Results: Mars 4 was one of four Soviet space-
motor at 07:21 UT on 15 June to enter orbit craft of the 3M (or M-73) series launched in
around the Moon. Initial orbital parameters 1973. Soviet planners were eager to preempt
were 1,334 x 1,123 kilometers at 61.3 ° inclina- the American Viking missions planned for
tion. On 18 June, the spacecraft jettisoned its 1976 but were limited by the less advanta-
main engine and, using its Velocity Control geous positions of the planets that allowed the
Propulsion System, circularized its orbit. The Proton boosters to launch limited payloads
spacecraft, with a partially deployed radio- toward Mars. The Soviets thus separated the
antenna array measuring 183 meters from tip standard pair of orbiter-lander payload combi-
to tip, remains the largest spacecraft in phys- nations into two orbiters and two landers. Less
ical dimensions to ever enter lunar orbit. than four months prior to launch, ground
Although the antennas did not deploy to full testing detected a rnajor problem with the
length, the mission goals were not affected. 2T312 transistors used on all four vehicles. An
During its mission, Explorer 49 studied low- analysis showed that the transistors' failure
frequency radio emissions from the solar rate began to increase after 1.5 to 2 years of
system (including the Sun and Jupiter) and operation--that is, just about when the space-
other galactic and extra-galactic sources. It craft would reach Mars. Despite the roughly
was placed in lunar orbit to avoid terrestrial 50-percent odds of success, the government
radio interference. NASA announced comple- decided to proceed with the missions. The first
tion of the mission in June 1975. Last contact spacecraft, Mars 4, successfully left Earth
was in August 1977. orbit and headed toward Mars and accom-
plished a single midcourse correction on 30
140) July 1973, but soon two of three channels of
Mars 4 the onboard computer failed due to the faulty
Nation: USSR (86) transistors. As a result, the second midcourse
Objective(s): Mars orbit correction could not be implemented. With no
Spacecraft: M-73 (no. 52S) possibility for Mars orbit insertion, Mars 4
Spacecraft Mass: 3,440 kg flew by the Red Planet at 15:34 UT on 10
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ February 1974 at a range of 1,844 kilometers.
Lavochkin Ground control was able to command the
Launch 7ehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. vehicle to turn on its imaging system at
261-01) 15:32:41 UT to begin a short photography ses-
Launch Date and Time: 21 July 1973 / sion of the Martian surface during the flyby.
19:30:59 UT During 6 minutes, cameras performed one reg-
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L ular cycle of imaging that included two
Scientific Instruments: panoramas of the surface. The spacecraft
1) atmospheric radio-probing eventually entered heliocentric orbit.
instrument
2) radiotelescope

_. 103
141) panorama was transmitted back to Earth,
Mars 5 took place on 28 February 1974, after which
Nation: USSR (87) pressure in the spacecraft decreased to below
0bjective(s): Mars orbit working levels. Mars 5 photos, some of which
Spacecraft: M-73 (no. 53S) were of comparable quality to those of Mariner
Spacecraft Mass: 3,440 kg 9, clearly showed surface features that indi-
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ cated erosion caused by free-flowing water.
Lavochkin Mars 5 was supposed to act as a data relay for
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. the Mars 6 and Mars 7 landers but was obvi-
262-01) ously unable to do so.
Launch Date and Time: 25 July 1973 /
18:55:48 UT 142)
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P Mars 6
Scientific Instruments: Nation: USSR (88)
1) atmospheric radio-probing Objective(s): Mars flyby and Mars landing
instrument Spacecraft: M-73 (no. 50P)
2) radiotelescope Spacecraft Mass: 3,260 kg
31 infrared radiometer Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
4) spectrophotometer Lavochkin
5) narrow-band photometer Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no.
6) narrow-band interference- 281-01)
polarization photometer Launch Date and lime: 5 August 1973 /
7) imaging system 17:45:48 UT

8) photometers Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L

9) two polarimeters Scientific Instruments:

10) ultraviolet photometer Bus:

11) scattered solar radiation photometer 1) magnetometer

12) gamma spectrometer 2) plasma traps
13) magnetometer 3) cosmic-ray sensors
14) plasma traps 4) micrometeoroid detectors
15) multichannel electrostatic analyzer 5) Zhemo instrument for study of solar
Results: Mars 5 was the sister Mars orbiter to proton and electron fluxes
Mars 4. After two midcourse corrections on 3 Lander:
August 1973 and 2 February 1974, Mars 5 suc- 1) thermometer
cessfully fired its main engine at 15:44:25 UT 2) barometer
to enter orbit around the planet. Initial orbital 3) accelerometer
parameters were 1,760 x 32,586 kilometers at 4) radio-altimeter
35°19'17" inclination. Soon after orbital inser- 5) mass spectrometer
tion, ground controllers detected the slow 6) soil analyzer
depressurization of the main instrument com- Results: Mars 6 was one of two landers

partment on the orbiter--probably as a result launched by the Soviet Union during the
of an impact with a particle during or after 1973 launch window. The landers were very
orbital insertion. Calculations showed that at similar in design to the Mars 2 and Mars 3
the current rate of loss of air, the spacecraft landers dispatched by the Soviets in 1971,
would be operational for approximately three except that the spacecraft was now composed
weeks. Scientists drew up a special acceler- of a flyby vehicle (instead of an orbiter) and
ated science program that included imaging of a lander. Mars 6 completed its first mid-
the surface at 100 meters resolution. Five course correction en route to Mars on 13
imaging sessions between 17 and 26 February August 1973. A few days later, there was a
1974 produced a total of 180 frames of 43 major failure in the telemetry system that
usable photographs. Additionally, Mars 5 took transmitted scientific and operations data
five panoramas of the surface. The last com- from the spacecraft. Only two channels
munication with Mars 5, when the final remained operational, neither of which pro-
videdthegroundwithanydataonthestatus 3) accelerometer
oftheflybyvehicle's systems. Amazingly, the 4) radio-altimeter
flybyspacecraft automatically performed all 5) mass spectrometer
its functions,andon 12 March1974,the 6) soil analyzer
lander successfullyseparatedfrom its Results: Mars 7 was the last of the four Soviet
mothershipat a distance of48,000kilome- spacecraft sent to Mars in the 1973 launch
tersfromMars.Threehourslater,it entered window (although it arrived at Mars prior to
the Martian atmosphere. The parachute Mars 6). On its way to Mars, the spacecraft
systemdeployed correctlyat an altitudeof performed a single midcourse correction on 16
20 kilometers,and scientificinstruments August 1973. En route to Mars, there were
began torecorddataastheprobedescended. failures in the communications systems, and
Dataseemed toindicatethatthelanderwas controllers were forced to maintain contact via
rockingbackandforthunderits parachute the only remaining radio communications
farmorevigorously thanexpected. Moments complex. On 9 March 1974, the flyby space-
beforeexpected landing,thegroundlostcon- craft ordered the lander capsule to separate
tactwiththeprobe. Thelastconfirmed data for its entry into the Martian atmosphere.
was informationon ignition of the soft- Although the lander initially refused to
landingenginesat 08:58:20 UT Theprobe "accept" the command to separate, it eventu-
landedat 09:11UTat 23°54 ' southlatitude ally did accept it. Ultimately, the lander's main
and19025 ' westlongitude. Laterinvestiga- retro-rocket engine failed to fire to initiate
tion neverconclusively identifieda single entry into the Martian atmosphere. As a
cause of loss of contact. Probable reasons result, the lander flew by the planet at a range
included failure of the radio system or of 1,300 kilometers and eventually entered
landing in a geographically rough area. All heliocentric orbit. The flyby probe did, how-
data from the Mars 6 lander was transmitted ever, manage to collect data during its short
via the Mars 6 flyby bus, which also collected encounter with the Red Planet. The failures on
scientific information during its short flyby. both Mars 4 (computer failure) and Mars 7
(retro-rocket ignition failure) were probably
143) due to the faulty transistors, installed in the
Mars 7 circuits of the onboard computer, which were
Nation: USSR (89) detected prior to launch.
Objective(s): Mars flyby and Mars landing
Spacecraft: M-73 (no. 51P) 144)
Spacecraft Mass: 3,260 kg Mariner 10
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ Nation: U.S. (55)
Lavochkin 0bjective(s): Mercury flyby, Venus flyby
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. Spacecraft: Mariner-73J / Mariner-J
281-02) Spacecraft Mass: 502.9 kg
Launch Date and Time: 9 August 1973 / Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
17:00:17 UT Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-34 /Atlas
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P 3D no. 5014D / Centaur D-1A)
Scientific Instruments: Launch Date and Time: 3 November 1973 /
Bus: 05:45:00 UT
1) magnetometer Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36B
2) plasma traps Scientific Instruments:
3) cosmic-ray sensors 1) imaging system
4) micrometeoroid detectors 2) infrared radiometer
5) Zhemo instrument for study of solar 3) ultraviolet airglow spectrometer
proton and electron fluxes 4) ultraviolet occultation spectrometer
6) Stereo antenna 5) two magnetometers
Lander: 6) charged-particle telescope
1) thermometer 7) plasma analyzer
2) barometer
 Results:
Mariner10wasthe first (andonly) 17:01 UT. Assisted by Venusian gravity, the
spacecraft sent to the planet Mercury, the first spacecraft now headed to the innermost
mission to explore two planets (Mercury and planet, which it reached after another mid-
Venus) during a single mission, the first to use course correction on 16 March 1974. As
gravity-assist to change its flight path, the first Mariner 10 approached Mercury, its photos
to return to its target after an initial encounter, began to show a very Moon-like surface with
and the first to use the solar wind as a major craters, ridges, and chaotic terrain. The space-
means of spacecraft orientation during flight. craft's magnetometers revealed a weak mag-
The primary goal of Mariner 10 was to study netic field. Radiometer readings suggested
the atmosphere (if any), surface, and physical nighttime temperatures of-183°C and max-
characteristics of Mercury. Soon after leaving imum daytime temperatures of 187°C. The
Earth orbit, the spacecraft returned photos of closest encounter was at 20:47 UT on 29
both Earth and the Moon as it sped to its first March 1974 at a range of 703 kilometers.
destination, Venus. During the coast, there Having looped around the Sun, Mariner 10
were numerous technical problems, including flew by Mercury once more on 21 September
malfunctions in the high-gain antenna and the 1974 at a more distant range of 48,069 kilo-
attitude-control system. After midcourse cor- meters. The spacecraft used solar pressure on
rections on 13 November 1973 and 21 January its solar panels and high-gain antenna for atti-
1974, Mariner 10 approached Venus on 5 tude control. A third and final encounter, the
Februa_ 1974 and returned a total of 4,165 closest to Mercury, took place on 16 March
photos of the planet and collected important 1975 at a range of 327 kilometers. Contact
scientific data during its encounter. The with the spacecraft was terminated on
closest flyby range was 5,768 kilometers at 24 March 1975.

h _e--;p S/_aceChronicie . i ..... "

 1974
145) tography, Luna 22 also performed investiga-
Luna 22 tions to determine the chemical composition of
Nation: USSR (90) the lunar surface, recorded meteoroid activity,
0bjective(s): lunar orbit searched for a lunar magnetic field, measured
Spacecraft: Ye-6LS (no. 220) solar and cosmic radiation flux, and continued
Spacecraft Mass: 5,700 kg studies of the irregular magnetic field.
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ Through various orbital changes, Luna 22
Lavochkin performed without any problems and con-
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. tinued to return photos fifteen months into
282-02) the mission, although its primary mission had
Launch Date and Tin]e: 29 May 1974 / ended by 2 April 1975. The spacecraft's
08:56:51 UT maneuvering propellant was finally depleted
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P on 2 September, and the highly successful
Scientific Instruments: mission was formally terminated in early
1) imaging system November 1975. Luna 21 remains the final
2) gamma-ray spectrometer Soviet or Russian lunar orbiter.
3) radio-altimeter
4) meteoroid detectors 146)
5) magnetometer Luna 23
6) cosmic-ray detectors Nation: USSR (91)
7) radiation detectors 0bjective(s): lunar sample return
Results: Luna 22 was the second of two Spacecraft: Ye-8-5M (no. 410)
"advanced" lunar orbiters (the first being Luna Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,800 kg
19) designed to conduct extensive scientific Mission Design and Management: GSMZ
surveys from orbit. Launched about a year Lavochkin

after the termination of Lunokhod 2 opera- Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no.
tions on the lunar surface, Luna 20 performed 285-01)
a single midcourse correction en route the Launch Date and Time: 28 October 1974 /

Moon on 30 May before entering lunar orbit on 14:30:32 UT

2 June 1974. Initial orbital parameters were Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P
219 x 222 kilometers at 19°35 ' inclination. In Scientific Instruments:
addition to its primary mission of surface pho- 1) stereo imaging system

"_0-7
 2) improved drill for sample collection Scientific Instruments:
3) radiation detector 1) plasma detector
4) radio-altimeter 2) two flux gate magnetometers
Results: Luna 23 was the first modified lunar 3) plasma and radio wave experiment
sample return spacecraft, designed to return a 4) cosmic-ray detectors
deep core sample of the Moon's surface (hence 5) electron detector
the change in index from Ye-8-5 to Ye-8-5M). 6) zodiacal light photometer
While Luna 16 and 20 had returned samples 7) micrometeoroid analyzer
from a depth of 0.3 meters, the new spacecraft 8) celestial mechanics experiment
was designed to dig to 2.5 meters. After a mid- Results: Helios 1 was a joint German-
course correction on 31 October, Luna 23 American deep space mission to study the
entered orbit around the Moon on 2 November main solar processes and solar-terrestrial
1974. Parameters were 104 x 94 kilometers at relationships. Specifically, the spacecraft's
138 ° inclination. Following several more instruments were designed to investigate
changes to the orbit, the spacecraft descended phenomena such as solar wind, magnetic and
to the lunar surface on 6 November and electric fields, cosmic rays, and cosmic dust in
landed in the southernmost portion of Mare regions between Earth's orbit and approxi-
Crisium. Landing coordinates were 13 ° north mately 0.3 AU from the Sun. It was the
latitude and 62 ° east longitude. During largest bilateral project to date for NASA,
landing in "unfavorable" terrain, the lander's with Germany paying about $180 million of
drilling device was evidently damaged, pre- the total $260-million cost. Germany pro-
venting fulfillment of the primary mission, the vided the spacecraft and NASA the launch
return of lunar soil to Earth. Scientists vehicles. After a successful launch, Helios 1
devised a makeshift plan to conduct a limited passed within 47 million kilometers of the
science exploration program with the sta- Sun at a speed of 238,000 kilometers per
tionary lander. Controllers maintained contact hour on 15 March 1975, the closest any
with the spacecraft until 9 November 1974. humanmade object had been to our nearest
star. During its mission, the spacecraft spun
147) once every second to evenly distribute the
Helios 1 heat coming from the Sun, 90 percent of
Nation: Federal Republic of Germany and which was reflected by optical surface mir-
U.S. (1) rors. Its data indicated the presence of fifteen
0bjective(s): heliocentric orbit times more micrometeorites close to the Sun
Spacecraft: Helios-A than there are near Earth. Helios l's data
Spacecraft Mass: 370 kg was correlated with the Interplanetary
Mission Design and Management: DFVLR and Monitoring Platform (IMP) Explorers 47 and
NASA GSFC 50 in Earth orbit, the Pioneer solar orbiters,
Launch Vehicle: Titan IIIE-Centaur (TC-2 / and Pioneers 10 and 11 while leaving the
Titan no. 23E-2 / Centaur D-1T) solar system. Control was maintained from a
Launch Date and Time: 10 November 1974 / German center outside of Munich. Data was
07:11:02 UT received until late 1982.
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 41
 1975
148) Results: Venera 9 was the first of a new gen-
Venera 9 eration of Soviet space probes ("4V")
Nation: USSR (92) designed to explore Venus. Launched by the

Objective(s): Venus orbit and landing more powerful Proton launch booster, the
Spacecraft: 4V-1 (no. 660) new spacecraft were nearly five times
Spacecraft Mass: 4,936 kg heavier than their predecessors. Each space-

Mission Design and Management: NPO Lavochkin craft comprised both an orbiter and a lander.
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. The 2,300-kilogram orbiters (at Venus orbit
286-01) insertion) were designed to spend their mis-
Launch Date and Time: 8 June 1975 / sions photographing the planet in ultraviolet
02:38:00 UT light and conducting other scientific investi-
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P gations. The landers, of a completely new
Scientific Instruments: design, employed aerodynamic braking
Orbiter: during Venusian atmospheric entry and con-
1) imaging system tained a panoramic photometer to take
2) infrared radiometer images of the surface. Without any apparent
3) ultraviolet imaging spectrometer problems and with two trajectory corrections
4) magnetometer (on 16 June and 15 October), Venera 9's

5) photopolarimeter lander separated from its parent on 20

6) ion/electron detectors October 1975, and two days later, it hit

7) optical spectrometer Venus's turbulent atmosphere at a speed of

Lander: 10.7 kilometers per hour. After using a series
1) panoramic imaging system of parachutes, the lander set down on the
2) thermometer planet's day side at 05:13 UT on 22 October.
3) barometer Landing coordinates were 32 ° north latitude
4) mass spectrometer and 291 ° longitude at the base of a hill near
5) anemometer Beta Regio. During its 53 minutes of trans-
6) photometers missions from the surface, Venera 9 took and

7) nephelometer transmitted the very first picture of the

8) gamma-ray spectrometer Venusian surface from a height of 90 cen-

9) radiation densitometer timeters. These were, in fact, the very first

10) accelerometers photos received of the surface of another

/109
planet.Thelanderwassupposed totransmit Venus and return data from the surface. The
a full 360°panorama, butbecause oneofthe spacecraft followed an identical mission to that
twocoversonthe camerafailedto release, of its twin, arriving only a few days later after
only a 180° panoramawas received. two trajectory corrections on 21 June and 18
Illuminationwasakintothatofa cloudyday October 1975. The 660-kilogram lander sepa-
on Earth.The imageclearlyshowedflat rated from its parent on 23 October and
rocksstrewnaroundthelander.TheVenera entered the atmosphere two days later at 01:02
9 orbiter meanwhileentereda 1,500x UT. During reentry, the lander survived gravity
111,700-kilometer orbitaroundtheplanetat acceleration as high as 168 g and temperatures
34010 ' inclinationandactedasa communi- as high 12,000°C. It performed its complex
cationsrelayfor the lander.It became the landing procedures without fault and landed
firstspacecrafttogointoorbitaroundVenus. without incident at 02:17 UT approximately
TheSovietsannounced on 22 March1976 2,200 kilometers from the Venera 9 landing
that the orbiter'sprimarymission,which site. Landing coordinates were 16 ° north lati-
included usingFrench-made ultravioletcam- tude and 291 ° longitude. Venera 10 trans-
eras to obtain photographsin 1,200- mitted for a record 65 minutes from the
kilometerswaths, hadbeenfulfilled. surface, although it was designed to last only
30 minutes. A photo of' the Venera 10 landing
149) site showed a smoother surface than that of its
Venem 10 twin. Like Venera 9, the Venera 10 lander was
Nation: USSR (93) supposed to take a 360 ° panorama but covered
0blective(s): Venus orbit and landing only 180 ° of the surroundings because of a
Spacecraft: 4V-1 (no. 661) stuck lens cover. Meanwhile, the Venera 10
Spacecraft Mass: 5,033 kg orbiter entered a 1,400 x l l4,000-kilometer
Mission Design and Management: NPO orbit around Venus inclined at 29°30 ' . Soviet
Lavochkin officials later revealed that the termination of
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. data reception from both Veneras 9 and 10 was
285-02) not caused by the adverse surface conditions
Launch Date and Time: 14 June 1975 / but by the flying out of view of the orbiter
03:00:31 UT relays for both spacecraft. Gamma-ray spec-
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P trometer and radiation densitometer data indi-
Scientific Instruments: cated that the surface layer was akin to basalt
Orbiter: rather than granite as hinted by the informa-
1) imaging system tion from Venera 8.
2) infrared radiometer
3) ultraviolet imaging spectrometer 150)
4) magnetometer Viking 1
5) photopolarimeter Nation: U.S. (56)
6) ion/electron detectors 0bjective(s): Mars landing and orbit
7) optical spectrometer Spacecraft: Viking-B
Lander: Spacecraft Mass: 3,527 kg
1) panoramic imaging system Mission Design and Management: NASA LaRC
2) thermometer (overall) and NASA JPL (Orbiter)
3) barometer Launch Vehicle: Titan IIIE-Centaur (TC-4 /

4) mass spectrometer Titan no. E-4 / Centaur D-1T)

51 anemometer Launch Date and Time: 20 August 1975 /
6) photometers 21:22:00 UT

7) nephelometer Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 41

8) gamma-ray spectrometer Scientific Instruments:
9) radiation densitometer Orbiter:
10) accelerometers 1) imaging system
Results: Venera 10, like its sister craft Venera 9, 2) atmospheric water detector
fully accomplished its mission to soft-land on 3) infrared thermal mapper
 Lander: samples and deposited them into a special
l) imaging system biological laboratory that included a gas chro-
2) gas chromatograph mass matograph mass spectrometer. While some
spectrometer data could be construed as indicating the
3) seismometer presence of life, a major test for organic com-
4) x-ray fluorescence pounds gave negative Results. The Lander
5) biologicallaboratory continued to return daily (and then eventu-
6) weather instrument package ally weekly) weather reports until loss of con-
(temperature, pressure, wind tact on 1 February 1983. Further attempts to
velocity) regain contact proved unsuccessful. The
7) remote sampler arm Orbiter was shut down on 7 August 1980,
AerosheH: after it ran out of attitude-control propellant.
l) retarding potential analyzer
2) upper-atmosphere mass 151)
spectrometer Viking 2
Results:Viking 1 was the firstof a pair of com- Nation: U.S. (57)
plex deep space probes that were designed to 0bjective(s): Mars landing and orbit
reach Mars and collectevidence on the possi- Spacecraft: Viking-A
bihty (or lack thereoD for lifeon Mars. Each Spacecraft Mass: 3,527 kg
spacecraft was composed of two primary ele- Mission Design and Management: NASA LaRC
ments, an Orbiter (2,339 kilograms) and a (overall) and NASA JPL (Orbiter)
Lander (978 kilograms). The Orbiter design Launch Vehicle: Titan IIIE-Centaur (TC-3 /
heavily borrowed from the Mariner buses, Titan no. E-3 / Centaur no. D-1T)
while the Lander looked superficiallylike a Launch Date and Time: 9 September 1975 /
much larger version of the Surveyor lunar 18:39:00 UT
lander. Prior to launch, the batteries of the Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 41
first spacecraft were discharged, prompting Scientific Instruments:
NASA to replace the original firstspacecraft Orbiter:
with the second, which was launched as 1) imaging system
Viking I. After three midcourse corrections 2) atmospheric water detector
(on 27 August 1975 and 10 and 15 June 1976), 3) infrared thermal mapper
the spacecraft entered orbit around Mars on I, ander:
19 June 1976. Initialorbitalparameters were 1) imaging system
1,500 x 50,300 kilometers. The following day, 2) gas chrolnatograph mass
when the Orbiter began transmitting back spectrometer
photos of the primary landing site in the 3) seismometer
Chryse region, scientists discovered that the 4) x-ray fluorescence
area was rougher than expected. Using the 5) biological laboratory
new photos, scientiststargeted the lander to a 6) weather instrument package (tern-
differentsite on the western slopes of Chryse perature, pressure, wind velocity)
Planitia. The Lander separated from the 7) remote sampler arm
Orbiter, and after a complex atmospheric Aeroshell:
entry sequence, during which the probe took 1) retarding potential analyzer
air samples, Viking 1 Lander set down safely 2) upper-atmosphere mass
at 22.483 ° north latitude and 47.94 ° west lon- spectrometer
gitude at II:53:06 UT on 20 July 1976. Once Results: Viking-A was scheduled to be
down, the spacecraft began taking high- launched before Viking-B but had to be
quality photographs (in three colors) of its launched second due to a problem with its
surroundings. Instruments recorded tempera- batteries that had to be repaired. After a suc-
tures ranging from -86°C Ibefore dawn) to cessful launch and a midcourse correction on
-33°C (in the afternoonl. The seismometer on 19 September 1975, Viking 2 entered orbit
the Lander was inoperable. On 28 July, the around Mars on 7 August 1976, nearly a year
lander's robot arm scooped up the first soil after launch. As with Viking 1, photographs
The boulder-strewn field of red rocks reaches to the horizon nearly no miles from Viking 2 on Mars's Utopian Ptain.
Scientists believe that the colors of the Martian surface and sky in this photo represent their true colors. Fine particles
of red dust have settled on spacecraft surfaces. The salmon cobr oF the sky is caused by dust particles suspended in
the atmosphere. Color calibration charts for the cameras are mounted at three locations on the spacecraft. Note the
blue starfield and red stripes of the flag. The circular structure at top is the high<3ain antenna, pointed toward Earth.
Viking 2 landed on 3 September 1976, some 4,600 miles from its twin, Viking 1, which touched down on 20 July.

of the original landing site indicated rough Scientists believed that Martian soil con-
terrain, prompting mission planners to select tained reactants created by ultraviolet bom-
a different site at Utopia Planitia near the bardment of the soil that could produce
edge of the polar ice cap where water was characteristics of organisms living in Earth
located, that is, where there was a better soil. The Orbiter continued its successful
chance of finding signs of life. The Lander imaging mission, approaching as close as 28
separated from the Orbiter without incident kilometers to the Martian moon Deimos in
on 3 September 1976 and, after atmospheric May 1977. A series of leaks prompted the ter-
entry, landed safely at 22:37:50 UT about mination of Orbiter 2 operations on 24 July
6,460 kilometers from the Viking 1 landing 1978, while Lander 2 continued to transmit
site. Touchdown coordinates were 47.968 ° data until 12 April 1980. In total, the two
north latitude and 225.71 ° west longitude Orbiters returned 51,539 images of Mars at
Photographs of the area showed a rockier, 300 meters resolution, that is, about 97 per-
flatter site than that of Viking 1. The Lander cent of the surface. The Landers returned
was in fact tilted 8.5 ° to the west. The biology 4,500 photos of the two landing sites.
experiments with scooped-up soil produced
similar results to that of its twin--inconclu- 152)
sive on the question of whether life exists or no name / [Luna]
ever has existed on the surface of Mars. Nation: USSR (94)

_DeepS_ceChronicle ..... - . _ _ . i 7 L i
0bjective(s): lunar sample return Scientific Instruments:

Spacecraft: Ye-8-5M (no. 412) 1) stereo imaging system

Spacecraft Mass: c, 5,800 kg 2) improved drill for sample collection
Mission Design and Management: NPO 3) radiation detector
Lavochkin 4) radio-altimeter
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. Results: This was the second attempt by the
287-02) Soviet Union to send an "advanced" lunar
Launch Date and Time: 16 October 1975 / sample return craft to the Moon, equipped
04:04:56 UT with the capability to dig for a deeper core. The
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L first spacecraft (Luna 23) was damaged during
landing on the Moon in October 1974. On this
mission, the first three stages of the Proton-K
launch vehicle worked without fault, but the
Blok D stage, during its first burn for insertion
into Earth orbit, failed. The expensive payload
burned up in Earth's atmosphere without ever
reaching Earth orbit.

........ 19z5_
 1976
153) spacecraft was put into heliocentric orbit. In
Helios 2 contrast to Helios 1, however, Helios 2 flew
Nation: Federal Republic of Germany and three million kilometers closer to the Sun,
U.S. (2) achieving perihelion on 17 April 1976 at a dis-
0bjective(s): solar orbit tance of 0.29 AU (or 43.432 million kilometers).
Spacecraft: Helios-B As a result, the spacecraft was exposed to 10
Spacecraft Mass: 370 kg percent more heat than was its predecessor.
Mission Design and Management: DFVLR and The spacecraft provided important information
NASA GSFC on solar plasma, the solar wind, cosmic rays,
Launch Vehicle: Titan IIIE-Centaur (TC-5 / and cosmic dust, and also performed magnetic
Titan no. E-5 / Centaur D-IT) field and electrical field experiments.
Launch Date and Time: 15 January 1976 /
05:34:00 UT 154)
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 41 Luna 24
Scientific Instruments: Nation: USSR (95)
1) plasma detector 0bjective(s): lunar sample return
2) two flux gate magnetometers Spacecraft: Ye-8-5M (no. 413)
3) search-coil magnetometer Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,800 kg
4) plasma and radio wave experiment Mission Design and Management: NPO
5) cosmic-ray detectors Lavochkin
6) electron detectors Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok DM (Proton-K

7) zodiacal light photometer no. 288-02)

8) micrometeoroid analyzer Launch Date and Time: 9 August 1976 /
9) celestial mechanics experiment 15:04:12 UT
10} Faraday rotation experiment Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L
11) occultation experiment Scientific Instruments:
Results: Helios 2 was the second spacecraft 1) stereo imaging system
launched to investigate solar processes as part 2) improved drill for sample collection
of a cooperative project between the Federal 3) radiation detector
Republic of Germany and the United States in 4) radio-altimeter
which the former provided the spacecraft and Results: Luna 24 was the third attempt to
the latter the launch vehicle. Like its twin, the recover a sample from the unexplored Mare

- 1976
Crisium (after Luna 23 and a launch failure in the Moon, Luna 24 lifted off successfully from
October 1975), the location of a large lunar the Moon at 05:25 UT on 19 August 1976.
mascon. After a trajectory correction on 11 After an uneventful return trip, Luna 24's cap-
August 1976, Luna 24 entered orbit around sule entered Earth's atmosphere and para-
the Moon three days later. Initial orbital chuted down to Earth safely at 05:55 UT on 23
parameters were 115 x 115 kilometers at 120 ° August 1976, about 200 kilometers southeast
inclination. After further changes to its orbit, of Surgut in western Siberia. Study of the
Luna 24 set down safely on the lunar surface recovered 170.1 grams of soil indicated a lam-
at 06:36 UT on 18 August 1976 at 12°45 ' north inated type structure, as if laid down in suc-
latitude and 62012 ' east longitude, not far from cessive deposits. Tiny portions of the sample
where Luna 23 had landed. After appropriate were shared with NASA in December 1976.
commands from ground control, the Lander Luna 24 remains the last Soviet or Russian
deployed its sample arm and pushed its probe to the Moon. An American spacecraft
drilling head about 2 meters into the nearby {Clementine) returned to the Moon over four-
soil. The sample was safely stowed in the teen years later.
small return capsule, and after nearly a day on
 1977
155) radio transmitter failed on 5 April 1978, and
Voyager 2 the spacecraft has used its backup ever since.
Nation: U.S. (58) Voyager 2 began transmitting images of
Objective(s): Jupiter flyby, Saturn flyby, Jupiter on 24 April 1979 for time-lapse movies
Uranus flyby, Neptune flyby of atmospheric circulation. During its
Spacecraft: Voyager-2 encounter, it relayed back spectacular photos of
Spacecraft Mass: 2,080 kg (822 kg mission the entire Jovian system, including its moons
module) Amalthea, Io, Callisto, Ganymede, and Europa,
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL all of which had already been surveyed by
Launch Vehicle: Titan IIIE-Centaur (TC-7 / Voyager 1. Voyager 2's closest encounter with
Titan no. 23E-7 / Centaur D-1T) Jupiter was at 22:29 UT on 9 July 1979 at a
Launch Date and Time: 20 August 1977 / range of 645,000 kilometers. It transmitted
14:29:44 UT new data on the planet's clouds and its newly
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 41 discovered four moons and ring system.
Scientific Instruments:
1) imaging system Following a midcourse correction 2 hours after
2) ultraviolet spectrometer its closest approach to Jupiter, Voyager 2 sped
3) infrared spectrometer to Saturn. Its encounter with the sixth planet
4) planetary radio astronomy began on 22 August 1981, two years after
experiment leaving the Jovian system, with imaging of the
5) photopolarimeter moon Iapetus. Once again, Voyager 2 repeated
6) magnetometers the photographic mission of its predecessor,
7) plasma particles experiment although it actually flew 23,000 kilometers
8) low-energy charged-particles closer to Saturn. The closest encounter was at
experiment 01:21 UT on 26 August 1981 at a range of
9) plasma waves experiment 101,000 kilometers. The spacecral_ provided
10) cosmic-ray telescope more detailed images of the ring spokes and
Results: Although launched after Voyager 1, kinks, as well as the F-ring and its shepherding
Voyager 2, the second in a pair of spacecraft moons. Voyager 2's data suggested that
designed to explore the outer planets, exited Saturn's A-ring was perhaps only 300 meters
the Asteroid Belt after its twin and then fol- thick. It also photographed the Saturn moons
lowed it to Jupiter and Saturn. Its primary Hyperion, Enceladus, Tethys, and Phoebe.

.. 1977
The little spacecraft that could, Voyager, which flew on a "grand tour" of the outer planets during the latter 1970s

and early 1980s and is now departing the solar system

Deep Space Chronicle

This Voyager 2 view, focusing on Saturn's C-ring (and to a lesser extent, the B-ring at top and left) was compiled from
three separate images taken through ultraviolet, clear, and green filters. On 23 August 1981, when it acquired these
frames, Voyager 2 was Z7 million kilometers from the planet. In general, C-ring material is very bland and gray, the
color of dirty ice. Color differences between this ring and the B-ring indicate differing surface compositions for the
material composing these complex structures. More than sixly bright and dark ringlets are evident here; the small,
bland squares are caused by the removal of reseau (reference) marks during processing.

Although Voyager 2 had fulfilled its primary made spacecraft past the planet Uranus.
mission goals with the two planetary encoun- Long-range observations of the planet began
ters, mission planners directed the veteran on 4 November 1985, when signals took
spacecraft to Uranus on a 4.5-year journey, approximately 2.5 hours to reach Earth. Light
during which it covered 33 AU. The geometry conditions were 400 times less than terrestrial
of the Uranus encounter was defined by conditions. The closest approach to Uranus
the possibility of a future encounter with took place at 17:59 UT on 24 January 1986 at
Neptune: Voyager 2 had only 5.5 hours of close a range of 71,000 kilometers. During its flyby,
study during its flyby, the first of any human- Voyager 2 discovered ten new moons, two new

1977
 rings in addition to the "older" nine, and a reached Voyager 2. During the six-month
magnetic field tilted at 55 ° off-axis and off- journey, the shock wave had ploughed through
center. The spacecraft found that wind speeds the solar wind, sweeping up and accelerating
in the atmosphere of Uranus were as high as charged particles. The spacecraft provided
724 kilometers per hour and found evidence of important information on high-energy shock-
a boiling ocean of water some 800 kilometers energized ions. Data from the operating
below the top cloud surface. Voyager 2 also instruments could be received as late as 2020,

returned spectacular photos of Miranda, when power levels are expected to reduce to
Oberon, Ariel, Umbriel, and Titania, five the minimum 230 watts.

larger moons of Uranus.

156)
Following the Uranus Encounter, the space- Voyager l
craft performed a single midcourse correction Nation: U.S. (57)
on 14 February 1986 to set it on a precise 0b]ective(s): Jupiter flyby, Saturn flyby
course to Neptune. Voyager 2's encounter with Spacecraft: Voyager- 1
Neptune capped a 7-billion-kilometer journey Spacecraft Mass: 2,080 kg (822 kg mission
when on 25 August 1989, at 03:56 UT, it flew module)

4,500 kilometers over the cloud tops of the Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
giant planet, the closest of its four flybys. Launch Vehicle: Titan IIIE-Centaur (TC-6 /

It was the first humanmade object to fly by Titan no. 23E-6 / Centaur D-1T)

the planet. Its ten instruments were still Launch Date and Time: 5 September 1977 /
in working order at the time. During the 12:56:01 UT

encounter, the spacecraft discovered five new Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 41
moons and four new rings. The planet itself Scientific Instruments:
was found to be more active than previ- 1) imaging system
ously believed, with 1,100-kilometer winds. 2) ultraviolet spectrometer
Hydrogen was found to be the most common 3) infrared spectrometer
atmospheric element, although the abundant 4) planetary radio astronomy
methane gives the planet its blue appearance. experiment
Voyager data on Triton, Neptune's largest 5) photopolarimeter
moon, revealed the coldest known planetary 6) magnetometers
body in the solar system and a nitrogen ice 7) plasma particles experiment
"volcano" on its surface. Once past the 8) low-energy charged-particles
Neptune system, Voyager 2 followed a course experiment
below the elliptic plane and out of the solar 9) plasma waves experiment
system. Approximately 56 million kilometers 10) cosmic-ray telescope
past the encounter, Voyager 2 instruments Results: The two-spacecraft Voyager missions
were put in low-power mode to conserve were designed to replace original plans for a
energy. After the Neptune encounter, NASA "Grand Tour" of the planets that would have
formally renamed the entire project the used four complex spacecraft to explore the five
Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM). In outer planets during the late 1970s. NASA can-
November 1998, twenty-one years after celed the plan in 1972 and instead proposed to
launch, nonessential instruments were perma- send two spacecraft to Jupiter and Saturn in
nently turned off, leaving seven instruments 1977. The two spacecraft were designed to
still operating. By 1 June 2001, the spacecraft explore the two gas giants in more detail than
was 9.6 billion kilometers from Earth and the two Pioneers (Pioneers 10 and 11) that pre-

traveling at 15.75 kilometers per second (rela- ceded them. Each of the two spacecraft was
tive to the Sun). NASA's JPL continues to equipped with slow-scan color TV to take live
receiye regular ultraviolet and fields/particles television images from the planets, and each
data. For example, on 12 January 2001, an also carried an extensive suite ofinstrnments to
immense shock wave that had blasted out of record magnetic, atmospheric, lunar, and other
the outer heliosphere on 14 July 2000 finally data about the planets. The original design of

_Deep Space Chronicle __

This picture
ofNeptune wasproduced from thelastwhole planet imagestaken throughthegreen andorange filters
ontheVoyager 2 narrow-anglecamera. Theimages were takenatarange of7.1million kilometersfrom theplanet,
4 daysand20hours before closestapproach. Thepicture shows theGreat Dark Spot anditscompanion bright
smudge; onthewest
limb, thefast-movingbrightfeature calledScooter andthelittledark
spot arevisible.
These clouds
were seen
topersist
foraslongasVoyager's cameras could resolvethem.North ofthese,abright cloud band sim-
ilartothesouth
polarstreak may be seen. Years later, when the Hubbb telescope was focused on the planet, these
atmospheric features had changed, indicating that Neptune's atmosphere is dynamic.

the spacecraft was based on that of the older lowing year indicated that Jupiter's atmos-
Mariners. Power was provided by three pluto- phere was more turbulent than during the
nium oxide radioisotope thermoelectric genera- Pioneer flybys in 1973 and 1974. On 10
tors (RTGs) mounted at the end of a boom. February 1979, the spacecraft crossed into
the Jovian moon system, and in early March,
Voyager 1 was launched after Voyager 2, but it had already discovered a thin (less than 30
because of a faster route, it exited the kilometers thick) ring circling Jupiter. Flying
asteroid belt earlier than its twin. It began its past Amalthea, Io, Europa, Ganymede, and
Jovian imaging mission in April 1978 at a Callisto (in that order) on 5 March, Voyager 1
range of 265 million kilometers from the returned spectacular photos of their terrain,
planet; images sent back by January the fol- opening up a completely new world for plan-

1977
etary scientists. The most interesting find The spacecraft found that the Moon's
was on Io, where images showed a bizarre atmosphere was composed of 90 percent
yellow, orange, and brown world with at least nitrogen. Pressure and temperature at the
eight active volcanoes spewing material into surface was 1.6 atmospheres and -180 ° C,

space, making it one of the most (if not the respectively. Voyager l's closest approach to
most) geologically active planetary bodies in Saturn was at 23:45 UT on 12 November

the solar system. The spacecraft also discov- 1980 at a range of 124,000 kilometers.
ered two new moons, Thebe and Metis.
Voyager l's closest encounter with Jupiter Following the encounter with Saturn, Voyager 1
was at 12:05 UT on 5 March 1979 at a range headed on a trajectory escaping the solar
of 280,000 kilometers. system at a speed of about 3.5 AU per year, 35 °
out of the ecliptic plane to the north, in the gen-
Following the Jupiter encounter, Voyager 1 eral direction of the Sun's motion relative to

completed a single course correction on 9 nearby stars. Because of the specific require-
April 1979 in preparation for its rendezvous ments for the Titan flyby, the spacecrafft was not
with Saturn. A second correction on 10 directed to Uranus and Neptune. The official
October 1979 ensured that the spacecraft goal of the Voyager Interstellar Mission (VIM),
would not hit Saturn's moon Titan. Its flyby as the dual Voyager flights have been called
of the Saturn system in November 1979 was since 1989, is to extend NASA's exploration of
as spectacular as its previous encounter. the solar system beyond the neighborhood of
Voyager 1 found five new moons and a ring the outer planets to the outer limits of the Sun's
system consisting of thousands of bands, sphere of influence, and possibly beyond.
discovered a new ring (the "G-ring"), and Specific goals include collecting data on the
found "shepherding" satellites on either heliopause boundary, the outer limits of the
side of the F-ring satellites that keep the Sun's magnetic field, and the outward flow of
rings well defined. During its flyby, the the solar wind. As with Voyager 2, there are
spacecraft photographed Saturn's moons seven instruments that remain operational on
Titan, Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione, Voyager 1 and continue to transmit data regu-
and Rhea. Based on incoming data, all the larly back to Earth. On 17 February 1998,
moons appeared to be largely composed of Voyager 1 became the most distant human-
water ice. Perhaps the most interesting made object in existence when it surpassed
target was Titan, which Voyager 1 passed at Pioneer 10's range from Earth. By 1 June 2001,
05:41 UT on 12 November at a range of Voyager 1 was 12.033 billion kilometers from
4,000 kilometers. Images showed a thick Earth and traveling at 17.25 kilometers per

atmosphere that completely hid the surface. second relative to the Sun.
 1978
157) 13) radio occultation experiment
Pioneer Venus 1 14) atmospheric and solar corona
Nation: U.S. 160} turbulence experiment
0bjective(s): Venus orbit 15) drag measurements experiment
Spacecraft: Pioneer Venus Orbiter 16) internal density distribution
Spacecraft Mass: 582 kg experiment
Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC 17) celestial mechanics experiment
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-50 / Atlas Results: The Pioneer Venus project comprised
no. 5030D) two spacecraft to explore the atmosphere and
Launch Date and Time: May 20 1978 / surface of Venus. Both spacecraft used a basic
13:13:00 UT cylindrical bus. Pioneer Venus 1, the orbiter,
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 36A was designed to spend an extended period in
Scientific Instruments: orbit around Venus mapping the surface
1) charged-particle retarding potential using a radar package. The orbiter entered an
analyzer elliptical orbit around Venus on 4 December
2) charged-particle mass spectrometer 1978 after a 6.5-month journey. The initial
3) thermal electron temperature orbital period was 23.4 hours, which was
Langrnuir probe altered within two orbits to the desired 24

4) neutral-particle mass spectrometer hours--a maneuver that would allow the

5) cloud photopolarimeter/imaging orbit's high and low points (about 150 kilo-
system meters) to occur at the same time each Earth

6) temperature sounding infrared day. Data from the radar mapper allowed sci-
radiometer entists to produce a topographical map of
7) magnetic field fluxgate most of the Venusian surface between 73 °

magnetometer north and 63 ° south latitude at a resolution

8) solar wind plasma analyzer of 75 kilometers. The data indicated that

9) surface radar mapper Venus was much smoother and more spher-
10) electric field experiment ical than Earth. The orbiter identified the

11) transient gamma-ray burst highest point on Venus as Maxwell Montes,

experiment which rises 10.8 kilometers above the mean

12) gas and plasma environment surface. Infrared observations revealed a

experiment clearing in the planet's atmosphere over the

1978
north pole. In addition, ultraviolet light Results: Pioneer Venus 2, the twin to Pioneer
photos showed dark markings that covered Venus 1, comprised a main bus, a large probe
the clouds in the visible hemisphere. (316.5 kilograms), and three identical small
Cameras also detected almost continuous probes, all of which were designed to collect
lightning activity in the atmosphere. The data during independent atmospheric entry
spacecraft confirmed that Venus has little, if into Venus. Each probe was shaped like a cone
any, magnetic field. Although the mapping and not designed to survive past surface
radar was switched off on 19 March 1981, it impact. After a course correction on 16 August
was reactivated again in 1991, thirteen years 1978, Pioneer Venus 2 released the 1.5-meter-
after launch, to explore the previously inac- diameter large probe on 16 November 1978, at
cessible southern portions of the planet. In about 11.1 million kilometers from the planet.
May 1992, Pioneer Venus 1 began the final Four days later, the bus released the three
phase of its mission, maintaining its peri- small probes while 9.3 million kilometers
apsis between 150 and 250 kilometers until from Venus. All five components reached the
propellant depletion. The last transmission Venusian atmosphere on 9 December 1978,
was received at 19:22 UT on 8 October 1992, with the large probe entering first. Using a
as its decaying orbit no longer permitted combination of air drag and a parachute, the
communications. The spacecraft burned in large probe descended through the atmos-
the atmosphere soon after, ending a suc- phere until it impacted on the Venusian sur-
cessful fourteen-year mission that was face at 4.4 ° north latitude and 304.0 °
planned to last only eight months. longitude at a speed of 32 kilometers per hour.
Transmissions ceased at impact as expected.
158) The three 76-centimeter-diameter small
Pioneer Venus 2 probes arrived in the atmosphere within min-
Nation: U.S. (61) utes of the bigger one and descended rapidly
0bjective(s): Venus impact through the atmosphere without the benefit
Spacecraft: Pioneer Venus Multiprobe of parachutes. Amazingly, two of three probes
Spacecraft Mass: 904 kg survived the hard impact. The so-called Day
Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC Probe transmitted data from the surface for
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur (AC-51 /Atlas 67.5 minutes before succumbing to the high
no. 5031D) temperatures and power depletion. All three
Launch Date and lime: 8 August 1978 / small probes suffered instrument failures, but
07'.33UT none significant enough to jeopardize their
Launch Site:ETR / launch complex 36A main missions. Their landing coordinates
Scientific Instruments: were 59.3 ° north latitude and 4.8 ° longitude
Bus: (North Probe); 31.3 ° south latitude and 317.0 °
1) neutral mass spectrometer longitude (Day Probe); and 28.7 ° south lati-
2) ion mass spectrometer tude and 56.7 ° longitude (Night Probe). The
3) differential long baseline interfer- main bus, meanwhile, burned up in the
ometry experiment atmosphere at an altitude of 120 kilometers--
4) atmospheric propagation experiment about 1.5 hours after the other probes--and
5) atmospheric turbulence experiment provided key data on higher regions. Data
Large probe: from the probes indicated that between 10
1) neutral mass spectrometer and 50 kilometers, there is almost no convec-
2) solar flux radiometer tion in the atmosphere. Below a haze layer at
3) gas chromatograph 30 kilometers, the atmosphere appears to be
4) infrared radiometer relatively clear.
5) cloud particle size spectrometer
6) atmospheric structure experiment 159)
Small probes (each): ISEE-3

1) atmospheric structure experiment Nation: U.S. (62)

2t cloud particles experiment 0bjective(s): Earth-Sun L1 Libration Point,
3) net flux radiometer Comet Giacobini-Zinner flyby, lunar flybys

Deep Space Chronicle

 Spacecraft:
ISEE-C December 1983 at a range of only 120 kilo-
Spacecraft Mass: 479 kg meters), ISEE-3 was sent on a trajectory to
Mission Design and Management: NASA GSFC encounter the Comet Giacobini-Zinner. At
Launch Vehicle:
Delta 2914 (no. 144 /Thor no. this point, the spacecraft was renamed the
633) International Cometary Explorer (ICE}. On
Launch Date and Time'. 12 August 1978 / 11 September 1985 at 11:02 UT, ICE passed
15:12 UT within 7,862 kilometers of the comet's core,
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 17B becoming the first spacecraft to fly past a
Scientific Instruments: comet. The spacecraft returned excellent data
1) solar wind plasma experiment on the comet's tail, confirming theories that
2) magnetometer comets are essentially "dirty snowballs" of
3) low-energy cosmic-ray experiment ice, with surface material sleeting off during
4) medium-energy cosmic-ray motion. ICE also flew to 40.2 million kilome-
experiment ters of the sunward side of Comet Halley on
5) high-energy cosmic-ray experiment 28 March 1986 and provided upstream solar
6) plasma waves experiment wind data. ICE remains in heliocentric orbit
7) protons experiment at about 1 AU; it continued to return infor-
8) cosmic-ray electrons experiment mation until NASA authorized termination
9) x-rays and electrons experiment of operations on 5 May 1997. On 10 August
101 radio mapping experiment 2014, ICE will return to the vicinity of Earth,
111 plasma composition experiment where it could possibly be captured for
12) high-energy cosmic-rays experiment analysis of its exterior for dust impacts. If it
13) ground-based solar studies is recovered, NASA will donate the spacecraft
experiment to the Smithsonian Institution for display.
Results: ISEE-3 was the third of three
International Sun-Earth Explorers (ISEE) 160)
designed and operated by NASA in coopera- Venera 11
tion with the European Space Agency. NASA Nation: USSR (96)
built the first and third spacecraft, while 0bjective(s): Venus flyby and landing
ESA built the second. The three spacecraft Spacecraft: 4V-1 (no. 360)
were to simultaneously investigate a wide Spacecraft Mass: 4,450 kg
range of phenomena in interplanetary space. Mission Design and Management: NPO
After launch, on 20 November 1978, ISEE-3 Lavochkin
was successfully placed at Libration Point 1 Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok DM (Proton-K
(L1) on the Sunward side of Earth, a point 1.5 no. 296-01 / Blok DM no. 3L)
million kilometers from Earth, where the Launch Date and Time: 9 September 1978 /
gravitational forces of Earth and the Sun are 03:25:39 UT

exactly counterbalanced. ISEE 3 became not Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L

only the first spacecraft to be put into orbit Scientific Instruments:

around a Libration Point, but also the first Flyby bus:
spacecraft to monitor the solar wind 1) plasma spectrometer
approaching Earth. ISEE-3 completed its pri- 2) Konus gamma-ray detector
mary mission in 1981, but Goddard Space 3) Sneg-2MZ gamma- and x-ray burst
Flight Center scientists proposed sending the detector
spacecraft first through Earth's magnetic tail 4) ultraviolet spectrometer
and second into position to intercept a comet. 5) magnetometer
By 10 June 1982, the spacecraft began to use 6) solar wind detectors
its thrusters to move into the geotail. ISEE-3 7) cosmic-ray detectors
completed the first deep survey of Earth's tail Lander:
and detected a huge plasmoid of electrified 1) imaging system
gas that was ejected from Earth's magnetos- 2) Sigma gas chromatograph
phere. Subsequently, after a series of five 3J mass spectrometer
complex flybys of the Moon (the last on 22 4) gamma-ray spectrometer
 5) Grozalightningdetector Nation: USSR (97)

6) temperature andpressure sensors 0bjective(s): Venus flyby and landing

7t nephelometer Spacecraft: 4V-1 (no. 361)

8) anemometer Spacecraft Mass: 4,461 kg

9) opticalspectrophotometer Mission Design and Management: NPO

10)remotesoilcollector Lavochkin

111x-rayfluorescence cloudaerosol Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok DM iProton-K

analyzer no. 296-02 / Blok DM no. 4LI

121Arakhisx-ray fluorescence spec- Launch Date and Time: 14 September 1978 /

trometeranddrill 02:25:13 UT
Results:Venera11wasoneof twoidentical Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81P

probes(theotherbeingVenera12)thatfol- ScJentJtic Instruments:

lowedup on the highly successful Soviet Flyby bus:

missions to Venusin 1975.Veneras11and 1) plasma spectrometer
12differedfromtheir predecessors princi- 2) Konus gamma-ray detector

pally in the fact eachcarried a flyby 3) Sneg-2MZ gamma- and x-ray burst
bus/lander combination insteadof the pre- detector

viousorbiter/lander combination. Engineers 4) ultraviolet spectrometer

revertedto the flyby combinationpartly 5) magnetometer
because oftheweightlimitationsofthe1978 6) solar wind detectors

launch window,but also becauseflyby 7) cosmic-ray detectors

probesafforded bettertransmission timefor Lander:

landers.Severalof the scientificinstru- 11 imaging system
mentswerealsomodifiedandnewones 21 Sigma gas chromatograph
added. Venera11arrivedatVenus aftertwo 3i mass spectrometer
coursecorrections on 16September and17 41 gamma-ray spectrometer
December 1978.On23December 1978,the 5) Groza lightning detector
landerseparated fromthe flybyprobeand 6) temperature and pressure sensors
enteredtheVenusian atmosphere twodays 7) nephelometer
later.The landerprobesafelylandedon 8) anemometer
Venusat 03:24UT on 15 December 1978 9) optical spectrophotometer
andthenrelayed95minutesof datafrom 10) remote soil collector

the surface.Landingcoordinates were14° 11) x-ray fluorescence cloud aerosol

southlatitudeand299°longitude. Thepoint analyzer
ofcutoffwasdetermined bytherangeofvis- 12) Arakhis x-ray fluorescence spec-

ibility of the flyby probe.A soil-drilling trometer and drill

instrumentcollectedsoilfor chemicaland Results: Venera 12 was the identical sister craft

physicalanalysis,but soil analysiswas to Venera 11. Launched successfully towards

unsuccessful because thesoilwasnotprop- Venus, the spacecraft performed two mid-

erlydeposited to an examination container course corrections on 21 September and 14

foranalysis (probably duetoleakingairthat December 1978. As with its twin, two days
disturbed thesoil).Thelanderalsofailedto prior to the planetary encounter, the flyby

takecolorpanoramas of theVenusian sur- probe released its lander. On 21 December, the

faceduetoafailureofthelenscovers ofthe lander entered the Venusian atmosphere at a
camerasystemto open.While extensive velocity of 11.2 kilometers per second and per-
atmospheric datawas later released, the formed a descent profile ahnost identical to
Sovietshavepublished relativelylittle data that of the earlier Veneras 9 and 10 in 1975.

fromsurface measurements. Theflybyprobe The lander safely touched down at 03:30 UT

enteredheliocentric orbit afterflyingpast on 21 December 1978 after a descent lasting

theplanetat arangeof35,000kilometers. about an hour. Landing coordinates were 7°

south latitude and 294 ° longitude, about 800
161) kilometers from its twin. From the ground, the
Venera 12 probe relayed data for a record 110 minutes,

_Deep Space Chronicle

although like Venera 11, the spacecraft suf- effectively rendering the color imaging system
fered two major failures: its soil sample useless. The flyby probe passed by the planet

delivery instrument failed to deposit the soil at a range of 35,000 kilometers after per-
appropriately for scientific analysis; and lens forming its data transmission mission and
covers on the imaging system failed to release, then entered heliocentric orbit.
Deep Space Chronicle ........
 1981
162) 10) accelerometer
Venera 13 11) humidity sensor
Nation: USSR (98) 12) prop soil mechanical/electrical
Objective(s): Venus flyby and landing probe
Spacecraft: 4V-1M (no. 760) 13) seismometer

Spacecraft Mass: 4,363 kg Results: Venera 13 was one of the third pair of
Mission Design and Management: NPO heavy Venus flyby/lander probes launched
Lavochkin towards Venus by the Soviet Union in the
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok DM (Proton-K 1970s (after Venera 9/10 and Venera 11/12).
no. 311-01 / Blok DM no. 5L) The Soviets picked the landing site for Venera
Launch Date and Time: 30 October 1981 / 13 based on information passed on by NASA
06:04 UT from the Pioneer Venus Orbiter vehicle. The
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 200P Venera 13/14 combination had an improved
Scientific Instruments: set of instruments (such as the spectropho-
Flyby bus: tometer, the gas chromatograph, and the mass
1) magnetometer spectrometer), including a redesigned soil
2) cosmic-ray detector sampler. After two midcourse corrections on 10
3) solar wind detectors November 1981 and 21 February 1982, the
4) Signe-2MS3 gamma-ray burst Venera 13 lander separated from its parent on
detector 27 February 1982. The capsule entered the
Lander: Venusian atmosphere and began relaying
1) x-ray fluorescence spectrometer and atmospheric data back to the flyby probe,
drill which continued to fly past the planet after a
2) x-ray fluorescence spectrometer for 36,000-kilometer-range encounter. After a
aerosols roughly 1-hour-long descent, the lander set
3) imaging system down on the Venusian surface at 03:57:21 UT

4) pressure and temperature sensors on 1 March 1982. Landing coordinates were

5) mass spectrometer 7.5 ° south latitude and 303 ° longitude. The
6) Groza-2 lightning detector probe continued to transmit for another addi-
7) gas chromatograph tional 127 minutes, far beyond the planned
8) nephelometer lifetime of 32 minutes. The probe found tern-
9) spectrophotometer perature and pressure to be 465°C and 89.5
 atmospheres, respectively. Venera 13 repeated 9) spectrophotometer
the attempts at color surface photography 10) accelerometer

(using red, green, and blue filters) that failed 11) humidity sensor
on Veneras 11 and 12 and succeeded by 12) prop soil mechanical/electrical
relaying to Earth the first color photographs of probe
the surface of Venus. Venera 13 returned eight 13) seismometer
successive panoramas showing a field of Results: Venera 14 was identical to its twin,
orange-brown angular rocks and loose soil. Venera 13. The spacecraft carried out three
Successful soil analysis (which failed on midcourse corrections on the way to Venus: on
Veneras 11 and 12) showed soil similar to ter- 14 November 1981, 23 November 1981, and 25
restrial leucitic basalt with a high potassium February 1982. Russian sources indicate that
content. The flyby module entered heliocentric one of the corrections was incorrect t probably
orbit. Its engine was fired on 10 June 1982 as the first) and could have jeopardized the mis-
part of a test fbr the anticipated Halley's sion. The lander probe separated from its flyby
Comet flyby. parent on 3 March 1982 before the entry cycle
began. The probe's main parachute opened at
163) an altitude of 62 to 63 kilometers, thus acti-
Venera 14 vating the atmospheric instruments. The
Nation: USSR (99) parachute was released at an altitude of 47
0bjective(s): Venus flyby and landing kilometers, and the 760-kilogram lander fell to
Spacecraft: 4V-1M (no. 761) the surface using only the atmosphere as a
Spacecraft Mass: 4,363.5 kg retarding medium. The probe made safe con-
Mission Design and Management: NPO tact with the Venusian surface at 07:00:10 UT
Lavochkin on 3 March 1982 and continued with 57 min-
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok DM (Proton-K utes of transmissions. Landing coordinates
no. 311-02 / Blok DM no. 6L) were 13.25 ° south latitude and 310 ° longitude,
Launch Date and Time: 4 November 1981 / about 1,000 kilometers from the Venera 13
05:31 UT landing site. As with its twin, Venera 14
launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 200L returned color photographs of its surround-
Scientific Instruments: ings and examined a soil sample (about I cubic
Flyby bus: centimeter taken from a 30-millimeter-deep
1) nmgnetometer sample). Soil was deposited in a chamber
2) cosmic-ray detector sealed off from the outside environment and
3) solar wind detectors was then progressively transferred through a
41 Signe-2MS3 gamma-ray burst series of chambers by blowing air until the
detector sample was deposited in its final chamber
Lander: with a temperature of only 30°C. Here it was
1) x-ray fluorescence spectrometer and examined by the x-ray fluorescence spectro-
drill meter. Temperature and pressure outside were
2) x-ray fluorescence spectrometer for considerably higher than at the Venera 13 site:
aerosols 470°C and 93.5 atmospheres, respectively. The
3) imaging system flyby probe, meanwhile, passed Venus at a
4) pressure and temperature sensors range of 36,000 kilometers and entered helio-
5) mass spectrometer centric orbit, continuing to provide data on
6) Groza-2 lightning detector solar x-ray flares. It pertbrmed one trajectory
7/ gas chromatograph change on 14 November 1982.
8) nephelometer

_Deep Space Chronicle

 1983
164) rections (on 10 June 1983 and 1 October 1983)
Venera 15 before successfully entering orbit around
Nation: USSR (100) Venus at 03:05 UT on 10 October. Initial
0bjective(s): Venus orbit orbital parameters were 1,000 x 65,000 kilo-
Spacecraft: 4V-2 (no. 860) meters at 87 ° inclination--that is, a near-polar
Spacecraft Mass: 5,250 kg orbit. The spacecraft's mapping operations
Mission Design and Management: NPO began six days after entering orbit over the
Lavochkin north pole. Because of the nature of the space-
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok DM (Proton-K craft's orbit, the two orbiters mapped only the
no. 321-01 / Blok DM no. 8L) area from 30 ° north latitude to the pole--
Launch Date and Time: 2 ,June 1983 / about 115 million square kilometers--before
02:38:39 UT the mission was completed on 10 July 1984.
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 200L
Scientific Instruments: 165)
1) Polyus-V side-looking radar Venera 16
2) Omega radiometric system Nation: USSR (101)
3) Radio occultation experiment 0bjective(s): Venus orbit
4) infrared spectrometer Spacecraft: 4V-2 (no. 861)
5) cosmic-ray detectors Spacecraft Mass: 5,300 kg
6) solar wind detectors Mission Design and Management: NPO
Results: Venera 15 and Venera 16 were a pair of Lavochkin
dedicated radar mappers designed to extend Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok I)M (Proton-K
the studies begun by the American Pioneer no. 321-02 / Blok DM no. 9I,)
Venus Orbiter in constructing a detailed map launc!l Date and Time: 7 June 1983 / 02:32 UT
of the surface down to a resolution of about 1 Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 200P
to 2 kilometers. For these missions, Soviet Scientific Instruments:
engineers lengthened the central bus of the 1) Polyus-V side-looking radar
earlier Veneras (by 1 meter), installed much 2) Omega radiometric system
larger solar batteries, and attached a large 3) Radio occultation experiment
side-looking radar antenna in place of the 4) infrared spectrometer
descent lander module on the earlier space- 5) cosmic-ray detectors
craft, Venera 15 carried out two midcourse cot- 6) solar wind detectors

1983
Results: Venera 16 arrived at Venus at 06:22 based observations. Both spacecraft also used
UT on 14 October 1983 after en route course an East German infrared spectrometer to
corrections on 15 June and 5 October 1983. It map the planet in infrared wavelengths in
began its mapping operations six days later in order to provide a "heat atlas" of the atmos-
its 24-hour-period near-polar orbit. Mapping phere. Although the primary missions of both
resolution of both Veneras 15 and 16 was com- spacecraft were fulfilled by 10 July 1984, at
parable to that possible with the 300-meter least one of the pair was still operational in
dish at Arecibo in Puerto Rico, although the November 1984. If there were plans to change
Soviet orbiters provided coverage over lati- its orbit to provide coverage of lower latitudes,
tudes higher than 30 ° , too far north for Earth- these were never carried out.
 1984
166) Bus:
Vega 1 1) imaging system
Nation: USSR (102) 2) infrared spectrometer
Objective(s): Venus atmospheric entry and 3) ultraviolet, visible, infrared imaging
landing, Halley's Comet flyby spectrometer
Spacecraft: 5VK (no. 901) 4) shield penetration detector
Spacecraft Mass: c. 4,920 kg 5) dust detectors

Mission Design and Management: NPO 6) dust mass spectrometer

Lavochkin 7) neutral gas mass spectrometer
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok DM (Proton-K 8) APV-V plasma energy analyzer
no. 329-01 / Blok DM no. llL) 9) energetic-particle analyzer
Launch Date and Time: 15 December 1984 / 10) magnetometer
09:16:24 UT 11) wave and plasma analyzers
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 200L Results: The twin-spacecraft Vega project was
Scientific Instruments: perhaps the most ambitious deep space Soviet
Lander: mission to date. The mission had three major
1) Malakhit mass spectrometer goals: to place advanced lander modules on
2) Sigma-3 gas chromatograph the surface of Venus, to deploy balloons (two
3) VM-4 hygrometer each) in the Venusian atmosphere, and, by
4) GS-15-SCV gamma-ray using Venusian gravity, to fly the remaining
spectrometer buses past the Comet Halley. The entire mis-
5) UV spectrometer sion was a cooperative effort among the
6) BDRP-AM25 x-ray fluorescence Soviet Union (who provided the spacecraft
spectrometer and drill and launch vehicle) and Austria, Bulgaria,
7) ISAV nephelometer/scatterometer Hungary, the German Democratic Republic
8) temperature and pressure sensors (East Germany), Poland, Czechoslovakia,
9) IFP aerosol analyzer France, and the Federal Republic of Germany
Balloon: fWest Germany). Although the ]anders were
1) temperature and pressure sensors similar to ones used before for exploring
2) vertical wind anemometer Venus, the balloon gondolas were comp]ete]y
3) nephelometer new French-made vehicles that carried

4) light level/lighting detector American-French nephelometers to measure

 aerosol distributionin the atmosphere. The 167)
cometary flybyprobes, whichcontained a120- Vega 2
kilogram scientific
package forinvestigations, Nation: USSR (103)
wereprotected againsthigh-velocity impacts 0bjective(s): Venus atmospheric entry,
fromdustparticles.Afterasuccessful flightto Halley's Comet flyby
Venus,Vega1 released its 1,500-kilogramSpacecraft: 5VK (no. 902)
descent moduleon 9 June1985,two days Spacecraft Mass: 4,920 kg
beforeatmospheric entry.At 61 kilometers Mission Design and Management: NPO
altitude,asthelanderdescended, it released Lavochkin
thefirsthelium-inflatedplasticballoon witha Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok DM (Proton-K
hanginggondolaunderneath it. Masswas no. 325-02 / Blok DM no. 12L)
around20.8kilograms. Astheballoon drifted Launch Date and Time: 21 December 1984 /
throughtheVenusian atmosphere (controlled 09:13:52 UT
partlyby ballast),it transmittedimportant Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 200P
dataontheatmosphere backtoa networkof Scientific Instruments:
trackingantennas on Earth.Balloon1 sur- Lander:
vivedfor46.5hours,eventually terminating 1) Malakhit mass spectrometer
operations because of batteryfailure.The 2) Sigma-3 gas chromatograph
landerset downsafelyon the groundat 3) VM-4 hygrometer
03:02:54 UTon 11June1985at 7.2° north 4) GS-15-SCV gamma-ray spectrometer
latitudeand177.8 ° longitude, on the night 5) UV spectrometer
sideofVenusin theMermaidPlainnorthof 6) BDRP-AM25 x-ray fluorescence
Aphrodite, andtransmitted fromthesurface spectrometer and drill
for 56 minutes.Havingdeployed beforeit 7) ISAV nephelometer/scatterometer
reachedthe surface,the soil sampledrill 8) temperature and pressure sensors
failedto complete its soilanalysis, but the 9) IFP aerosol analyzer
massspectrometer returned important data. Balloon:

1) temperature and pressure sensors

TheVega1 busflewbyVenusat a rangeof 2) vertical wind anemometer
39,000kilometersandthenheadedfor its 3) nephelometer
encounter withHalley.Aftera course correc- 4) light level/lighting detector
tion on 10 February1986,the spacecraft Bus:

beganits formalstudiesof the cometon4 1) imaging system

March,whenit was14millionkilometers 2) infrared spectrometer
fromits target.Duringthe3-hourencounter 3) ultraviolet, visible, infrared imaging
on6 March1986,thespacecraft approached spectrometer
towithin8,889kilometers (at07:20:06
UT)of 4) shield penetration detector
Halley.Vega1 tookmorethan500pictures 5) dust detectors
viadifferentfiltersasit flewthroughthegas 6) dust mass spectrometer
cloudaroundthecoma.Althoughthespace- 7) neutral gas mass spectrometer
craftwasbattered bydust,noneoftheinstru- 8) plasma energy analyzer
mentsweredisabledduringthe encounter. 9) energetic-particle analyzer
Vega1collected a wealthofinformation on 10) magnetometer
Halley,including dataonitsnucleus,itsdust 11) wave and plasma analyzers
production rate,its chemicalcomposition, Results: Vega 2 was the sister spacecraft to
and its rotationalrate.After subsequent Vega 1 and essentially performed a near-iden-
imagingsessions on 7 and8 March1986, tical mission to its twin. The main lander
Vega1headed outtodeepspace. probe set down without problems at 03:00:50
UT on 15 June 1985 in the northern region of
Aphrodite, about 1,500 kilometers southeast of
Vega. Landing coordinates were 6.45 ° south
latitude and 181.08 ° longitude. The spacecraft
transmitted from the surface for 57 minutes.

_ _)eepi_poie Chron,¢Je _ .... _ . - .... i

Unlike its twin, the Vega 2 lander was able to at 07:20 UT two days later when the space-
collect and investigate a soil sample; the craft was traveling at a speed of 76.8 kilo-
experiment identified an anorthosite-troctolite meters per second (slightly lower than Vega
rock--rarely found on Earth, but present in l's 79.2 kilometers per second). During the
the lunar highlands. According to the lander's encounter, Vega 2 took 700 images of the
data, the area was probably the oldest comet--of much better resolution than those
explored by any Venera vehicle. The mass from the spacecraft's twin, partly due to the
spectrometer did not return any data. The bal- presence of less dust outside of the coma
loon, released upon entry into the atmosphere, during this transit. Ironically, Vega 2 sus-
flew through the Venusian atmosphere, col- tained an 80-percent power loss during the
lecting data like its twin, and survived for 46.5 encounter (as compared to Vega l's 40 per-
hours of data transmission. cent}. Seven instruments between the two

spacecraft were partially damaged,

After releasing its lander, the flyby probe although no instrument on both was inca-
continued on its flight to Comet Halley. The pacitated. After further imaging sessions on
spacecraft initiated its encounter on 7 10 and 11 March 1986, Vega 2 finished its
March 1986 by taking 100 photos of the primary mission and headed out into helio-
comet from a distance of 14 million kilome- centric orbit.
ters. Vega 2's closest approach to Halley was
o DeeP Space Chron!c!e ........... "
 1985
168) 1985, Sakigake was sent on a long-range
Sakigake encounter (about 7.6 million kilometers) with
Nation: Japan (1) Halley. The spacecraft served as a reference
Objective(s): Halley's Comet flyby vehicle to permit scientists to eliminate
Spacecraft: MS-T5 Earth atmospheric and ionospheric contribu-
Spacecraft Mass: 138.1 kg tions to the variations in Giotto's transmis-

Mission Design and Management: ISAS sions from within the coma. The spacecraft's
Launch Vehicle: Mu-3S-I[ (no. 1) closest approach to Halley was at 04:18 UT
Launch Date and Time: 7 January 1985 / on 11 March 1986, when it was 6.99 million
19:26 UT kilometers from the comet. Nearly six years
Launch Site: Kagoshima / launch complex M1 after the Halley encounter, Sakigake flew by
Scientific Instruments: Earth on 8 January 1992 at a range of 88,790
1) solar wind ion detector kilometers. After two more distant flybys
2) plasma wave probe through Earth's magnetic tail (in June 1993
3) magnetometer and July 1994), Sakigake maintained weekly
Results: The MS-T5 spacecraft (named contact with the ground until telemetry was
Sakigake after launch) was the first deep lost on 15 November 1995, although the
space spacecraft launched by any country ground continued to receive a beacon signal
apart from the Soviet Union and the United until all contact was terminated on 7 January
States (the two German Helios probes had 1999.
been launched by NASA). Japan's goal had
been to launch a single modest probe to fly 169)
past Halley. As part of a test to prove out the Giotto
technologies and mission operations of the Organization: European Space Agency (1)
actual mission, the country's Institute of 0bjective(s): Halley's Comet flyby
Space and Astronautical Sciences (ISAS) Spacecraft: Giotto
launched this test spacecraft known as MS- Spacecraft Mass: 960 kg
T5, nearly identical to the "actual" vehicle Mission Design and Management: ESA
launched later. The spin-stabilized spacecraft Launch Vehicle: Ariane 1 (V14)
was launched by a new Japanese launch Launch Date and Time: 2 July 1985 /
vehicle, the Mu-3S-II. Following two course 11:23:16 UT

corrections on 10 January and 14 February Launch Site: Kourou / ELA-1

Scientific Instruments; Comet Grigg-Skjellerup at 15:30 UT on 10
1) neutral mass spectrometer July 1992 at range of approximately 200 kilo-
2) ion mass spectrometer meters. Eight experiments provided exten-
3) dust mass spectrometer sive data on a wide variety of cometary
4) dust impact detector system phenomena during this closest ever flyby of a
5) plasma analysis 1 experiment comet. After formal termination of the
6) plasma analysis 2 experiment encounter on 23 July 1992, Giotto was put
7) energetic-particle analyzer in hibernation. In September 1999, ESA sci-
8) magnetometer entists revealed that a second comet or
9) optical probe experiment cometary fragment may have been accom-
10) color imaging system panying Grigg-Skjellerup during the encounter
Results: Giotto was the first deep space probe in 1992. The spacecraft repeated a flyby of
launched by the European Space Agency Earth at 02:40 UT on 1 July 1999 at range of
(ESA). Because the cylindrical spacecraft was 219,000 kilometers.
designed to approach closer to Halley than
any other probe, it was equipped with two 170)
dust shields separated by 23 centimeters; the S.isei
first would bear the shock of impact and Nation: Japan (2)
spread the impact energy over larger areas of 0bjective(s): Halley's Comet flyby
the second, thicker rear sheet. The design Spacecraft: Planet-A
of the spacecraft was based on the spin- Spacecraft Mass: 139.5 kg
stabilized magnetospheric Geos satellites Mission Design and Management: ISAS
launched in 1977 and 1978. After course cor- Launch Vehicle: Mu-3S-II (no. 2)
rections on 26 August 1985, 12 February Launch Date and Time: 18 August 1985 /
1986, and 12 March 1986, Giotto was put on 23:33 UT
a 500-kilometer flyby to the comet's core. Launch Site: Kagoshima / launch complex M1
Data on its trajectory was based upon Scientific Instruments:
tracking information from the Soviet Vega 1 1) ultraviolet imaging system
and 2 probes. The spacecraft eventually 2) solar wind experiment
passed by Halley on 14 March 1986. Closest Results: Planet-A (named Suisei after
encounter was at a range of 605 kilometers at launch), was the second of two Japanese
00:03:02 UT. At a range of 137.6 million kilo- probes launched towards Halley during the
meters from Earth, just 2 seconds before 1986 encounter. The cylindrical spacecraft
closest approach, telemetry stopped due to was launched directly on a deep space trajec-
impact with a heavy concentration of dust tory without entering intermediate-Earth
that probably knocked the spacecraft's high- orbit. The main payload of the spacecraft was
gain antenna out of alignment with Earth. an ultraviolet-based imaging system that
Fortunately, data transmission was restored could study the huge hydrogen corona
within 32 minutes. On average, Giotto had around the comet. After a course correction
been hit 100 times a second by particles on 14 November 1985, Suisei flew within
weighing up to 0.001 grams. By the end of its 152,400 kilometers of the comet's nucleus on
encounter with Halley, the spacecraft was 8 March 1986 at 13:06 UT, returning ultravi-
covered in at least 26 kilograms of dust. olet images of the 20-million-kilometer-
Giotto returned 2,000 images of Halley. After diameter hydrogen gas coma. Even at that
the encounter, ESA decided to redirect the relatively large distance from the comet, the
vehicle for a flyby of Earth. The spacecraft spacecraft was hit by at least two dust parti-
was officially put in hibernation mode on 2 cles, each 1 millimeter in diameter. After the
April 1986. Course corrections on 19 March, Halley Encounter, in 1987, ISAS decided to
20 March, and 21 March 1986, however, set it send the spacecraft through an elaborate
on a 22,000-kilometer flyby of Earth on 2 July trajectory for an encounter with the Comet
1990 for a gravity-assist (the first time that Giacobini-Zinner on 24 November 1998, thir-
Earth had been used for such a purpose) to teen years after launch. Suisei performed a
visit a new target: Giotto successfully flew by series of trajectory corrections between 5 and
10April1987in ordertosendit onagravity- encounter with Giacobini-Zinner
(aswellas
assistaroundEarthon20August1992ata a far-distance
flybyofCometTempel-Tuttle)
rangeof 60,000kilometers.Unfortunately, hadtobecanceled on28February 1998;
the
hydrazinefor furthercorrections
hadbeen cancellation
formallyendedthemission.
depletedby22February1991.Theplanned
_Deep Space Chronicle
 1988
171) 5) SOVIKOMS energy-mass charge
Fobos 1 spectrometer
Nation: USSR (104) 6) TAUS proton and alpha-particle
Objective(s): Mars flyby, Phobos encounter spectrometer
Spacecraft: 1F (no. 101) 7) HARP ion and electron

Spacecraft Mass: 6,220 kg spectrometer

Mission Design and Management: NPO 8) SLED energetic charged-particle
Lavochkin spectrometer
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D-2 (Proton-K Solar studies:
no. 356-02 / Blok D-2 no. 2L) 1) IPHIR solar photometer
Launch Date and Time: 7 July 1988 / 2) TEREK solar telescope/coronograph
17:38:04 UT 3) RF-15 x-ray photometer
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 200L 4) SUFR ultrasound spectrometer
Scientific Instruments: 5) LILAS gamma-burst spectrometer
Planetary studies (on Orbiter): 6) VGS gamma-burst spectrometer
1) VSK videospectrometric system Results: Fobos 1 and 2 were part of an ambitious
2) ISM infrared spectrometer mission to Mars and its 27-kilometer-diameter

3) GS-14 gamma-emission moon Phobos that was the culmination of a

spectrometer decade-long program of development. Each

4) IPNM neutron detector spacecraft comprised a Mars Orbiter for long-
5) RLK radar system term studies of the planet and a Long-Term
6) LIMA-D laser mass spectrometric Automated Lander (DAS) that would land on

analyzer Phobos to study its geological and climatic con-

7) DION secondary ion mass analyzer ditions. After each spacecraft entered orbit
8) [SO optical radiation spectrometer around Mars, it would make close flybys of
Plasma studies: Phobos, sample surface material using an
1) MAGMA magnetometer innovative onboard laser spectrometer, and
2) FGMM magnetometer also deploy the Lander. Laser beams would
3) APV-F plasma wave analyzer prepare small samples of material for analysis.
4) ASPERA scanning energy-mass Each spacecraft, with a newly designed bus,
spectrometer carried twenty-four experiments provided by
thirteen countries and the European Space
 Agency.
Fobos 1performed
a course correction 5) SOVIKOMS energy-mass charge
en routeto Marson 16 July 1988. On 29 spectrometer
August 1988, due to a programming error, a 6) TAUS proton and alpha-particle
command was issued to turn offthe orientation spectrometer
and stabilization system (instead of a routine 7) HARP ion and electron
command to switch on the gamma-ray spec- spectrometer
trometer). As a result, the spacecraft lost 8) SLED energetic charged-particle
proper solar orientation and began to lose spectrometer
power. There was no word from Fobos 1 at the Solar studies:
next scheduled communications session on 2 1) IPHIR solar photometer
September. Continuing attempts to estab- 2) RF-15 x-ray photometer
lish contact failed, and on 3 November 1988, 3) SUFR ultrasound spectrometer
the Soviets officially announced that there 4) LILAS gamma-burst spectrometer
would be no further attempts at contact. The 5) VGS gamma-burst spectrometer
spacecraft flew by Mars without entering orbit Results: Fobos 2 had the same mission as its twin

(scheduled for 23 January 1989) and eventu- Fobos I but had an additional payload on board,

ally entered heliocentric orbit. a 110-kilogram "hopper" designed to make up to

ten 20-meter jumps across the Phobos surface
172) to gather surface data on the tiny Martian
Fobos 2 moon. The orbiter also had a slightly different
Nation: USSR (105) instrument complement. Fobos 2 caITied out
0bjective(s): Mars flyby, Phobos encounter two en route course corrections on 21 July 1988
Spacecraft: IF (no. 102) and 23 January 1989, despite some major prob-
Spacecraft Mass: 6,220 kg lems. One of the two radio transmitters failed

Mission Design and Management: NPO when there were spuriously generated com-
Lavochkin mands in one channel of its computer. At 12:55
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D-2 (Proton-K UT on 29 January 1989, the spacecraft fired its
no. 356-01 / Blok D-2 no. 1L) engine to enter orbit around Mars. Initial
Launch Date and Time: 12 July 1988 / orbital parameters were 819 x 81,214 kilome-
17:01:43 UT ters at 1.5 ° inclination. After four further orbital
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 200P corrections, its trajectory was put on an
Scientific Instruments: encounter course with Phobos. Fobos 2 took
Planetary studies (on Orbiter): high-resolution photos of the moon on 23
1) VSK videospectrometric system February (at a range of 860 kilometers), 28
2) KRFM infrared radiometer/ February (320 kilometers), and 25 March 1989
spectrometer (191 kilometers). Release of its lander was

3) ISM infrared spectrometer scheduled for 4-5 April 1989, but on 27 March,
4) Thermoscan scanning infrared during a regularly planned communications
radiometer session at 15:58 UT, there was no word from the

5) GS-14 gamma-emission spacecraft. A weak signal was received between

spectrometer 17:51 and 18:03 UT, but there was no telemetry
6) RLK radar system information. The nature of the signal indicated
7) LIMA-D laser mass spectrometric that the spacecraft had lost all orientation.
analyzer Future attempts to regain communication were
8) DION secondary ion mass analyzer unsuccessful, and the mission was declared lost
9) ISO optical radiation spectrometer on 15 April 1989. The most probable cause of
Plasma studies: failure was simultaneous malfunctions in both

1) MAGMA magnetometer channels of the onboard computer (due to insuf-

2) FGMM magnetometer ficiently robust software) that put the space-
3) APV-F plasma wave analyzer craft into an improper tumble.
4) ASPERA scanning energy-mass
spectrometer

_Deep Space Chronicle ........

 1989
173) 1990. Orbital parameters were 297 x 8,463
Magellan kilometers at 85.5 ° inclination. Six days after
Nation: U.S. (63) entering orbit, Magellan suffered a communi-
Objective(s): Venus orbit cations outage lasting 15 hours. After a
Spacecraft: Magellan second 17-hour interruption on 21 August,
Spacecraft Mass: 3,445 kg the ground sent up new preventative soft-
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL ware to reset the system in case of such
Launch Vehicle: STS-30R Atlantis anomalies. Beginning 15 September 1990,
Launch Date and Time: 4 May 1989 / the spacecraft began returning high-quality
18:47:00 UT radar images of the Venusian terrain that
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 39B showed evidence of vulcanism, tectonic move-
Scientific Instruments: ment, turbulent surface winds, kilometers of
1) synthetic aperture radar lava channels, and pancake-shaped domes.
2) gravimetry experiment Magellan completed its first 243-day cycle
3) Magellan radio science occultation (the time it took for Venus to rotate once
experiment under Magellan's orbit) of radar mapping on
Results: Magellan was the first deep space 15 May 1991, providing the first clear views
probe launched by the United States in of 83.7 percent of the surface. The spacecraft
almost eleven years, and it was also the first returned 1,200 gigabits of data, far exceeding
launched by the Space Shuttle. The space- the 900 gigabits of data from all NASA plan-
craft was designed to use a synthetic aper- etary missions combined at the time. The
ture radar (SAR) to map 70 percent of the spacecraft's second mapping cycle, already
Venusian surface down to a resolution of 120 beyond the original goals of the mission,
to 300 meters. Magellan was deployed by the ended on 15 January 1992, raising coverage
STS-30R crew and released at 01:01 UT on 5 to 96 percent. A third cycle that focused on
May 1989 from the payload bay of Atlantis. stereo imaging ended on 13 September 1992
One hour later, a two-stage Inertial Upper and finished coverage at 98 percent. Further
Stage (IUS_ fired to send the spacecraft on a investigations focused on obtaining gravi-
trajectory to rendezvous with Venus. After metric data and performing aerobraking
three en route trajectory corrections (the first exercises (in 1993). Contact was lost after
two on 21 May 1989 and 13 March 1990), 10:04 UT on 12 October 1994 as the space-
Magellan arrived in Venus orbit on 10 August craft was commanded to plunge into the
atmosphere togatheraerodynamic data.The instruments/experiments to study the
spacecraftburnedupin theVenusian atmos- planet's atmosphere, satellites, and magne-
pherethe followingdayat about08:00UT, tosphere. Galileo carried a 337-kilogram
afteroneofthe mostsuccessful deepspace probe designed to return data as it entered
missions.Magellanfoundthat at least85 the Jovian atmosphere to identify atmos-
percentof the Venusian surfaceis covered pheric materials and conditions that cannot
withvolcanicflows.Despitethehighsurface be detected from outside. Because of limita-
temperatures (475°C)
andhighatmospheric tions of a Space Shuttle/IUS combination,
pressures(92 atmospheres), the complete NASA decided to use a complex multiple-
lackof watermakeserosionan extremely gravity-assist scheme that required three
slowprocess.Asa result,surface
featurescan flybys (two of Earth and one of Venus) on its
persistforhundredsofmillionsofyears. way to Jupiter. The STS-34R crew released
the spacecraft 6.5 hours after launch; an hour
174) later, the two-stage IUS fired to send Galileo
Galileo on its way. Galileo flew past Venus at
Nation: U.S. (64) 05:58:48 UT on 10 February 1990 at a range
Objective(s): Jupiter orbit and atmospheric of 16,106 kilometers; as it did so, it conducted
entry, Venus flyby, two Earth flybys, flybys of an extensive survey of the planet (including
Gaspra and Ida asteroids imaging). Having gained 8,030 kilometers
Spacecraft: Galileo per hour in speed, the spacecraft flew by
Spacecraft Mass: 2,561 kg Earth twice, the first time at a range of 960
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL kilometers at 20:34:34 UT on 8 December
Launch Vehicle: STS-34R Atlantis 1990, when it clearly detected traces of life in
Launch Date and Time: 18 October 1989 / atmospheric trace elements on our home
16:53:40 UT planet. The spacecraft also conducted lunar
Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 39B observations. A major problem occurred on 11
Scientific Instruments: April 1991, when the high-gain antenna
Orbiter: failed to fully deploy, thus eliminating the
1) imaging system possibility of data transmission during its
2) near-infrared mapping spectrometer flyby of the asteroid Gaspra. Becoming the
3) ultraviolet spectrometer first humanmade object to fly past an
4) photopolarimeter-radiometer asteroid, Galileo approached the minor
5) magnetometer planet to a distance of 1,604 kilometers at
6) energetic-particles detector 22:37 UT on 29 October 1991. The encounter
7) plasma detector provided much data, including 150 images of
8) plasma wave the asteroid. Galileo then sped to its second
9) heavy ion counter encounter with the Earth-Moon system, with
10) radio system a flyby of Earth at 303.1 kilometers at
Atmospheric entry probe: 15:09:25 UT on 8 December 1992, adding 3.7
1) atmospheric structure instrument kilometers per second to its cumulative
2) neutral mass spectrometer speed. Despite extensive attempts to salvage
3) helium abundance detector the high-gain antenna, ground controllers
4) net flux radiometer eventually had to restructure the mission to
5) nephe]ometer use only the low-gain antenna, which would
6) lightning/energetic-particles allow about 70 percent of the originally
experiment planned scientific return (using software and
Results: Galileo, one of NASA's most ambitious hardware improvements on Earth). Galileo
deep space exploration projects, was the flew by a second asteroid, Ida, at 16:51:59 UT
result of plans dating back to the early 1980s on 28 August 1993 at a range of 2,410 kilo-
to deploy a Jupiter orbiter and probe. In its meters, thus providing further data on minor
final configuration, the orbiter was a 4.6- planets. Later, in July 1994, as it was
meter-tall spacecraft designed to operate for speeding toward Jupiter, Galileo provided
twenty-two months in Jovian orbit using ten astronomers' only direct observations of
This is an image of a small region of the thin, disrupted ice crust in the Conamara region of Jupiter's moon Europa.
The lighter areas on the left of the image (actual color, white and bluel show areas that have been blanketed by
a fine dust of ice particles ejected at the time of formation of the large crater Pwyll, approximately 1,000 kilome-
ters to the south. A few small craters of less than 500 meters in diameter can be seen associated with these regions.
These craters were probably formed at the same time as the blanketing occurred, by large, intact blocks of ice
thrown up in the impact explosion that formed Pwyll. The areas on the right (actual color, reddish brown) consti-
tute an unblanketed surface that has been painted by mineral contaminants carried and spread by water vapor
released from below the crust. The image covers an area approximately 70 kilometers by 30 kilometers and com-
bines data taken by the Solid State Imaging system on the Galileo spacecraft during three of its orbits through the
Jovian system in September and December 1996 and February 1997.

Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9's impact with the of Callisto). Having fulfilled the mission's
Jovian atmosphere. original goals, NASA implemented a two-
year extension {later extended four years to
Galileo's atmospheric entry probe was finally 31 January 2000} with the Galileo Europa
released on 13 July 1995, when the space- Mission (GEM), during which the spacecraft
craft was still 80 million kilometers from conducted numerous flybys of Jupiter's
Jupiter. The probe hit the atmosphere at 6.5 ° moons, each encounter yielding a wealth of
north latitude and 4.4 ° west longitude at scientific data. These included flybys of
22:04 UT on 7 December 1995 and returned Europa nine times leight between December
valuable data for 57 minutes as it plunged 1997 and February 1999 and one in January
into the Jovian cauldron. Data, originally 2000), Callisto four times (between May 1999
transmitted to its parent craft and then later and September 1999), and Io three times (in
transmitted back to Earth, indicated an October 1999, November 1999, and February
intense radiation belt 50,000 kilometers 2000}. On the last flyby of Io, Galileo flew
above Jupiter's clouds, few organic com- only 198 kilometers from the surface and
pounds, and winds as high as 640 meters per sent back the highest resolution photos yet of
second. The Galileo orbiter, meanwhile, fired the volcanically active moon. On 8 March
its engine at 00:27 UT on 8 December, 2000, NASA announced plans to extend
becoming Jupiter's first humanmade satel- Galileo's mission further to the end of the
lite. Its orbital period was 198 days. Soon year, renaming the flight the Galileo
after, Galileo began its planned eleven tours Millennium Mission. Galileo coordinated
over twenty-two months, exploring the investigations of Jupiter and its environs
planet and its moons, beginning with a first with the Cassini spacecraft (on its way to
encounter with Ganymede on 27 June 1996 Saturn} in December 2000. Earlier, under
and ending with a flyby of Europa on 6 the new Millennium Mission, Galileo flew by
November 1997 (which also included flybys Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar
 This perspective view of Venus, generated by com-
puter from Magellan data and color<oded with
emissivity, is a look westward across the Fortuna
Tessera toward the slopes of Maxwell Mantes. The
tessera terrain of both Fortuna and the slopes of
Maxwell is characterized by roughly parallel north-
south trending ridges. With a maximum elevation of
roughly 11 kilometers above the planetary refer-
ence surface (which has a radius of 6,051 kilome-
ters), Maxwell is the highest mountain on Venus.
The circular feature on the slope of Maxwell is the
crater Cleopatra, which has a diameter of approxi-
mately 100 kilometers. Before the high-resolution
Magellan images were available, Cleopatra was
thought to be a volcanic feature because of its
mountainous location and the visible lava flow ema-

nating from the crater and flooding the troughs of

the foreground terrain. The Magellan images, how-
ever, clearly show an ejecta blanket characteristic
of an impact origin around Cleopatra. Other
Venusian craters have associated outflow features,
but these do not resemble the flow from Cleopatra.
The difference may be the result of unique target
conditions Ihigh elevation, and perhaps high sub-
surface temperatures if Maxwell is still actively
being supported by activity in the interior of Venus) or may simply be the consequence of the formation of
the crater on an unusually steep slope.

system, on 20 May 2000 at a range of 809 loop, the spacecraft will hurtle back into the
kilometers. It completed a second flyby of the Jovian atmosphere in December 2003.
same moon on 28 December 2000.

In its six-year exploration of the Jovian

On 15 March 2001, NASA extended the system, Galileo has discovered far less light-
Galileo mission a third time by planning five ning activity (about l0 percent of that found
more flybys of the planet's moons: Callisto (in in an equal area on Earth) than anticipated,
May 2001), Io (in August and October 2001 helium abundance in Jupiter very nearly the
and January 2002), and Amalthea (in same as in the Sun (24 percent compared to
November 2002). During the 25 May 2001 25 percent), extensive resurfacing of Io's sur-
encounter with Callisto, a heavily cratered face due to continuing volcanic activity since
moon about the size of Mercury, the space- the Voyagers flew by in 1979, and evidence
craft flew by the surface at a scant 138 kilo- for a liquid water ocean under Europa's sur-
meters, closer than any previous encounter. face. Galileo has also discovered organic com-
pounds on Callisto, Ganymede, Europa, and
In December 2000, the National Research even Io. The spacecraft has also discovered
Council of the National Academy of Sciences the first internal magnetic field of a moon.
approved plans for ending the Galileo mission. Ganymede's intrinsic magnetic field actually
After finishing its imaging mission in 2002, produces a "mini magnetosphere" embedded
Galileo will continue studies of Jupiter's mas- within Jupiter's huge magnetosphere. By
sive magnetic field with seven instruments. March 2000, the spacecraft had returned
After a final orbit shaped like an elongated about 14,000 images back to Earth.
 1990
175) maneuver successfully demonstrated the use
Hiten/Hagomoro of the swingby technique to enter lunar orbit,
Nation: Japan (3) communication with Hagomoro was lost
Objective(s): lunar flyby and lunar orbit shortly after release. Hiten, on the other hand,
Spacecraft: Muses-A and Muses-A subsatellite continued on its trajectory, simulating the
Spacecraft Mass: 197.4 kg orbital path of the proposed Geotail space-
Mission Design and Management: ISAS craig. On 19 March 1991, Hiten flew by Earth
Launch Vehicle: Mu-3S-II (no. 5) at a range of 126 kilometers during a gravity-
Launch Date and Time: 24 January 1990 / assist maneuver that slowed it by 1.7 meters
11:46 UT per second--the first aerobraking maneuver
Launch Site: Kagoshima / launch complex M1 by a deep space probe. During its eleventh
Scientific Instruments: flyby of the Moon on 15 February 1992, Hiten
Hiten: swung into lunar orbit and eventually
1) cosmic dust detector impacted on 10 April 1993.
Results: This two-module Japanese spacecraft
was designed to fly past the Moon and release 176)
an orbiter. It was the first Japanese lunar mis- Ulysses
sion and also the first robotic lunar probe since 0rganization/Nation: ESA and U.S. (1)
the flight of the Soviet Luna 24 in 1976. 0bjective(s): heliocentric orbit
Muses-A (for Mu-launched Space Engineering Spacecraft: Ulysses
Satellite) was launched into a highly elliptical Spacecraft Mass: 371 kg
orbit that intersected the Moon's orbit. After Mission Design and Management: ESA and
launch, the spacecraft, which was renamed NASA JPL

Hiten, returned technical data on trajectory Launch Vehicle: STS-41 Atlantis

and optical navigation from an onboard com- Launch Date and Time: 6 October 1990 /
puter. The cosmic dust experiment was jointly 11:47:16 UT
designed with Germany. On 19 March 1990, Launch Site: ETR / launch complex 39B
the spacecraft approached the Moon to a range Scientific Instruments:
of 16,472 kilometers and then released a small 1) BAM solar wind plasma experiment
12-kilogram orbiter satellite named Hagomoro 2) GLG solar wind ion composition
into lunar orbit. Initial orbital parameters experiment
were 22,000 x 9,000 kilometers. Although the 3) HED magnetic fields experiment
This montage of the nine planets and four large moons of Jupiter in our solar system are set against a false-
color view of the Rosette Nebula. The light emitted from the Rosette Nebula results from the presence of
hydrogen, oxygen, and sulfur. Mosl of the planetary images in this montage were obtained by NASA's plane-
tary missions, which have dramatically changed our understanding of the solar syslem.

4t KEP energetic-particle composition/ the north pole. Eventually, thirteen years

neutral gas experiment after ESA's science council had originally
5) LAN low-energy charged-particle approved the mission, Ulysses was sent on its
composition/anisotropy experiment way via a Shuttle/PAM-S motor combination.
6) SIM cosmic rays and solar particles Escape velocity was 15.4 kilometers per
experiment second, higher than had been achieved by
7) STO radio/plasma waves either of the Voyagers or Pioneers, and the
experiment fastest velocity ever achieved by a human-
8) HUS solar x-rays and cosmic made object. After a midcaurse correction on
gamma-ray bursts experiment 8 July 1991, Ulysses passed within 378,400
91) GRU cosmic dust experiment kilometers of Jupiter at 12:02 UT on 8
Results: The Ulysses mission was an out- February 1992. After a seventeen-day period
growth of the abandoned International Solar passing through and studying the Jovian
Polar Mission (ISPM) that involved two system, the spacecraft headed downwards
spacecraft flying over opposite solar poles to and back to the Sun. From about mid-1993
investigate the Sun in three dimensions. on, Ulysses was constantly in the region of
Eventually, ESA built a single spacecraft for space dominated by the Sun's sauthern pale,
launch on the Space Shuttle. The vehicle was as indicated by the constant negative polarity
designed to fly a unique trajectory that would measured by the magnetometer. South polar
use a gravity-assist from Jupiter to take it observations extended from 26 June to 6
below the elliptic plane, past the solar south November 1994, when the vehicle was above
pole, and then above the elliptic to fly over 70 ° solar latitude. It reached a maximum of
80.2° in September1994.Its instruments September 2000 and January 2001, and it
foundthatthesolarwindblowsfasterat the made a pass over the northern pole in

south pole than at the equatorial regions. October 2001. In October 2000, ESA

Flying up above the solar equator on 5 March announced that Ulysses had discovered the

1995, Ulysses passed over the north polar most distant gamma-ray burst yet recorded,

regions between 19 June and 30 September about 11 billion light years from Earth. At

1995 (maximum latitude of 80.2°). The closest that time, the Sun was at the peak of its

approach to the Sun was on 12 March 1995 at eleven-year cycle. ESA's Science Programme
a range of 200 million kilometers. ESA offi- Committee, during a meeting on 5-6 June

cially extended Ulysses's mission on 1 2000, agreed to extend the Ulysses mission
October 1995, renaming this portion as the from the end of 2001 to 30 September 2004.

Second Solar Orbit. The spacecraft made a NASA was expected to approve the plan by

second pass over the south pole between mid-2001.

t51
Deep SpaceChronicl e
 1992
177) year (687 days) from a 378 x 350-kilometer
Mars Observer polar orbit. It carried a suite of instruments
Nation: U.S. (65) to investigate Martian geology, atmosphere,
0bjective(s): Mars orbit and climate in order to fill in gaps in our

Spacecraft: Mars Observer knowledge of planetary evolution. A mere 31

Spacecraft Mass: 2,573 kg minutes after launch, the new Transfer Orbit

Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL Stage {TOS) fired to boost the spacecraft on
Launch Vehicle: Titan III (CT-4) an encounter trajectory with Mars. After a
Launch Date and Time: 25 September 1992 / 725-million-kilometer voyage lasting eleven
17:05:01 UT months, just two days prior to planned entry
Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 40 into Mars orbit, the spacecraft suddenly fell
Scientific Instruments: silent at 01:00 UT on 22 August 1993.

1) imaging system Despite vigorous efforts to regain contact,

2) thermal emission spectrometer Mars Observer remained quiet. When the

3) pressure modulator infrared spacecraft did not reestablish command as a

radiometer result of a stored program that was designed
4) laser altimeter to do so in case of five days of silence, mission

5) magnetometer/electron planners finally gave up hope on salvaging

reflectometer the mission. The results of a five-month

6) gamma-ray spectrometer investigation proved to be inconclusive, but

7) radio science experiment one likely cause of the catastrophic failure

8) Mars balloon relay receiver may have been a fuel line rupture that could
Results: Mars Observer was designed to carry have damaged the spacecraft's electronics,

out a high-resolution photography mission of throwing the vehicle into a spin.

the Red Planet over the course of a Martian

153
 1994
178) components and ten science instruments. After
Clementine launch, the spacecraft remained in a tempo-
Nation: U.S. (66} rary orbit until 3 February 1994, at which time
Objective(s): lunar orbit a solid-propellant rocket ignited to send the
Spacecraft: Clementine vehicle to the Moon. After two subsequent
Spacecraft Mass: 424 kg Earth flybys on 5 February and 15 February,
Mission Design and Management: BMDO and Clementine successfully entered an elliptical
NASA polar orbit on 19 February with a period of 5
Launch Vehicle: Titan IIG (no. 23G-11) days and a perilune of 400 kilometers. In the
Launch Date and Time: 25 January 1994 / following two months, it transmitted about 1.6
16:34 UT million digital images of the lunar surface; in
Launch Site: WSMC / SLC-4W the process, it provided scientists with their
Scientific Instruments: first look at the total lunar landscape,
1) ultravioleUvisib]e camera including polar regions. After completing its
2) near-infrared camera mission goals over 297 orbits around lunar
31 long-wave infrared camera orbit, controllers fired Clementine's thrusters
4) high-resolution camera on 3 May to inject it on a rendezvous trajectory.
5) two star tracker cameras in August 1994 with the asteroid 1620
6) laser altimeter Geographos. Due to a computer problem at
7) bistatic radar experiment 14:39 UT on 7 May that caused a thruster to
81 gravity experiment fire and use up all propellant, the spacecraft
91 charged-particle telescope was put into an uncontrollable tumble at about
Results: Clementine was the first U.S. space- 80 rpm with no spin control. Controllers were
craft launched to the Moon in over twenty forced to cancel the asteroid flyby and return
years /since Explorer 49 in June 1973). The the vehicle to the vicinity of Earth. A power
spacecraft, also known as the Deep Space supply problem on 20 July further diminished
Program Science Experiment (DSPSE), was the operating capacity of the vehicle.
designed and built to demonstrate a set of Eventually, lunar gravity took control of
lightweight technologies such as small- Clementine and propelled it into heliocentric
imaging sensors for future low-cost missions orbit. The mission was terminated in June

flown by the Department of Defense. 1994 when falling power supply levels no
Clementine carried fifteen advanced flight-test longer allowed clear telemetry exchange. On
NASA's Galileo spacecraft acquired its highest resolution images of Jupiter's moon Io on 3 July 1999, during its
closest pass to Io since orbit insertion in late 1995. This color mosaic uses the near-infrared, green, and violet
filters [slightly more than the visible range) of the spacecraft's camera and approximates what the human eye
would see. Most of Io's surface has pastel colors, punctuated by black, brawn, green, orange, and red units near
the active volcanic centers. A false-color version of the mosaic has been created to enhance the contrast oF the
color variations, The improved resolution reveals smalr-scale color units that had not been recognized previously
and that suggest that the lavas and sulfurous deposits are composed of comptex mixtures. Some of the bright
(whitish], high-latitude (near the top and bottom) deposits have an ethereal quality like a transparent covering of
frost. Bright red areas were seen previously only as diffuse deposits. However, they are now seen to exist as both
diffuse deposits and sharp linear features like fissures. Some volcanic centers have bright and colorful flows, per-
haps due to f{ows of sulfur rather than silicate lava. in this region, bright, white material can also be seen to
emanate from linear rifts and cliffs. Comparison of this image to previous Galileo images reveals many changes
due to the ongoing volcanic activity. North is toward the top of the picture, and the Sun illuminates the surface
from almost directly behind the spacecraft. This illumination geometry is good for imaging color variations but
poor for imaging topographic shading. However, some topographic shading can be seen here due to the com-
bination of relatively high resolution (1.3 kilometers per picture element) and the rugged topography over parts
of Io. The image is centered at 0.3 ° north latitude and 1375 ° west longitude. The resolution is 1.3 kilometers
per picture element. The images were taken on 3 July 1999 at a range oF about 130,000 kilometers by the Solid
State Imaging (SSI] system on NASA's Galileo spacecraft during its twenty-first orbit.
3 December 1996, DoD announced that 10) 3-D plasma and energetic-particle
Clementine data indicated that there was ice analyzer
in the bottom of a permanently shadowed 11) transient gamma-ray spectrometer
crater on the lunar south pole. Scientists 12) Konus gamma-ray burst studies
estimated the deposit to be approximately experiment
60,000 to 120,000 cubic meters in volume-- Results: Wind is part of the twelve-satellite
comparable to a small lake that is 4 football Inter-Agency Solar-Terrestrial Physics
fields in surface area and 5 meters deep. This (IASTP) Program, a joint project among the
estimate was very uncertain, however, due to United States, Japan, Russia, the Czech
the nature of the data. Republic, and ESA to study the behavior of the
solar-terrestrial system. The first of two
179) NASA-sponsored Global Geospace Science
Wind Program vehicles, the Wind spacecraft carries
Nation: U.S. (67) eight instruments (including one each from
Objective(s): orbit around L1 Libration Point, France and Russia) to investigate the solar
lunar flybys wind's encounters with Earth's magnetos-
Spacecratt: Wind phere and ionosphere in order to determine
Spacecraft Mass: 1,250 kg the origins and three-dimensional characteris-
Mission Design and Management: NASA GSFC tics of the solar wind. Wind initially operated
Launch Vehicle: Delta 7925-10 (no. D227) in a unique figure-eight-shaped elliptical orbit
Launch Date and Time: 1 November 1994 / around Earth at 28,000 x 1.6 million kilome-
09:31:00 UT ters, partially maintained by regular "double
Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 17B flybys" of the Moon. The closest of nineteen
Scientific Instruments: flybys of the Moon between 1 December 1994
11 WAVES radio and plasma wave and 17 November 1998 was on 27 December
experiment 1994, at a range of 11,834 kilometers. By
2) three low-energy matrix telescopes November 1996, Wind was in a "halo orbit"
3) electron isotope telescope around the Earth-Sun Libration Point, where
4) suprathermal energetic-particle the solar and terrestrial gravity are approxi-
telescope mately equal. On 17 November 1998, it began
5) solar wind experiment to move into a series of"petal" orbits designed
6) solar wind ion composition to take it out of the elliptical plane. Wind's
spectrometer trips above and below the elliptic (up to 60 °)
7) high-mass-resolution spectrometer allowed the spacecraft to sample regions of
8) suprathermal ion composition interplanetary space and the magnetosphere
spectrometer that had not been previously studied. All of its
9) two fluxgate magnetometers instruments were operational in July 2001.
: Dee_Spacce-Chp nicie .. .......
 1995
180) 10) GOLF global oscillations at low fre-
SOH0 quencies experiment
0rganization/Nation: ESA and U.S. (2) 11) VIRGO variability of solar irradi-
Objective{:-;): LI Libration Point ance experiment
Spacecraft: SOHO 12) MDI Michelson Doppler imager
Spacecraft Mass: 1,864 kg Resu!ts: The ESA-sponsored Solar and
Mission .-q,:_igi_-rod ._anagenm'lt: ESA and Heliospherie Observatory (SOHO) carries
NASA twelve scientific instruments to study the
Launch Vehicle: Atlas-Centaur IIAS (AC-121 / solar atmosphere, helioseismology, and solar
Atlas IIAS no. 8206 / Centaur II) wind. Information from the mission allows
Launch Date anti Time: 2 December 1995 / scientists to learn more about the Sun's
08:08:01 UT internal structure and dynamics, the chro-
launch Site: ESMC/launch complex 36B mosphere, the corona, and solar particles. The
Scientific Instruments: SOHO and Cluster missions, part of ESA's
1) SUMER solar-ultraviolet emitted Solar Terrestrial Science Programme (STSP),
radiation experiment are ESA's contributions to the Inter-Agency
2) CDS coronal diagnostic Solar Terrestrial Physics (IASTP) program.
spectrometer NASA contributed three instruments on

3) EIT extreme ultraviolet imaging SOHO as well as launch and flight operations
telescope support. About two months after launch, on
4} UVCS ultraviolet coronograph 14 February 1996, SOHO was placed at a dis-
spectrometer tance of 1.5 million kilometers from Earth at
5) LASCO white light/spectrometric the L1 Libration Point. The spacecraft
coronograph returned its first image on 19 December 1995
6} SWAN solar wind anisotropies and was fully commissioned tbr operations by
experiment 16 April 1996. SOHO finished its planned two-
7) CELIAS charge, elemenffisotope year study of the Sun's atmosphere, surface,
analysis experiment and interior in April 1998. Communications
8) COSTEP suprathermal/energetic- with the spacecraft were interrupted for four
particle analyzer months beginning on 24 June 1998, but, after
9) ERNE energetic-particle analyzer intensive search efforts, controllers managed
to regain full control by 16 September.

1995 -- "
Barringthreeinstruments, thespacecraft
was (around 2000). One of SOHO's most impor-
functional andwasdeclared fullyoperational tant discoveries has been locating the origin
onceagainbymid-October 1998. SOHO'sorig- of the fast solar wind at the corners of honey-
inal lifetimewasthreeyears(to 1998),but comb-shaped magnetic fields surrounding the
ESAandNASAjointlydecided toprolongthe edges of large bubbling cells located near the
missionto2003,thusenabling thespacecraft Sun's poles. SOHO remains in its halo orbit,
to compare the Sun's behavior during low circling L1 once every six months.
dark sunspot activity (1996) to the peak
 1996
181) and magnetic field). The spacecraft is the first
NEAR probe to rely on solar cells for power during
Nation: U.S. (68) operations beyond Mars orbit. On the way to
0bjective(s): multiple asteroid flybys its primary mission, NEAR performed a 25-

Spacecraft: NEAR minute flyby of the asteroid 253 Mathilde on

Spacecraft Mass: 805 kg 27 June 1997. The closest approach to 1,200
Mission Design and Management: NASA GSFC kilometers was at 12:56 UT. During the
and Johns Hopkins University Applied encounter, the spacecraft photographed 60
Physics Laboratory percent of the minor planet from a range of
Launch Vehicle: Delta 7925-8 (no. D232) 1,200 kilometers. The collected information
Launch Date and Time: 17 February 1996 / indicated that the 4.5-billion-year-old asteroid
20:43:27 UT is covered with craters and is less dense than

Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 17B previously believed. After a midcourse correc-
Scientific Instruments: tion on 3 July 1997, NEAR flew by Earth on 23
1) MSI multispectral imager January 1998 at 07:23 UT for a gravity-assist
2) MAG magnetometer on its way to Eros. The closest approach was
3) NIS near infrared spectrometer 540 kilometers. After the Earth flyby

4) XRS-GRS x-ray/gamma-ray encounter, NEAR's previously planned mis-

spectrometer sion profile had to be revised in the light of an

5) NLR laser rangefinder aborted engine burn on 20 December 1998
6) radio science and gravimetry that prevented a critical trajectory correction
experiment to meet up with Eros a month later Instead,
Results: Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous NEAR was put on a backup trajectory that
(NEAR) is the first mission flown under afforded a different flyby than originally

NASA's new Discovery program, a series of planned. As part of this new plan, the space-
low-cost (less than $150 million) planetary sci- craft first flew past Eros on 23 December 1998

ence projects. NEAR's primary goal was to ren- at 18:41:23 UT at a range of 3,827 kilometers
dezvous with the minor planet 433 Eros (an (distance measured from the center of mass),
S-class asteroid), approximately 355 million at which time it observed about 60 percent of
kilometers from Earth, and gather data on its the asteroid and discovered that the minor

composition and physical properties (miner- planet was smaller than expected. NEAR also

alogy, morphology, internal mass distribution, found that the asteroid has two medium-sized
 NEAR Estimated Impact Site

-20 °

-30 °

.40 °

300 ° 290 ° 280 ° 270 ° 260 °

January 25 2001, mosaic 1 _rA_'QT _lffl_f_ [': ":'_" '? _'" _'_''_

This map projection of NEAR Shoemaker images shows locations and sizes of landmarks surrounding the space-
craft's planned landing site. Diameters of craters are shown in red, and diameters of boulders are shown in
yellow. Diameters are given in units of meters (1 meter is about 3.3 feetI. Coordinates along the left side of the
map are degrees south latitude and coordinates along the bottom are degrees west longitude. The six yellow
"footprint" boxes represent approximate image size at 500, 1,000, 1,500, 2,000, 2,500, and 3,000 meters
above the surface during descent. The spacecraft will take pictures continuously between spots. The arrow
marks the estimated touchdown site. The mosaic is made from images taken 25 January 2001 from an altitude
of about 25 kilometers.

craters, a long surface ridge, and a density July, Eros entered an even lower orbit at 35
similar to that of Earth's crust. After several kilometers that brought the vehicle as close as
more trajectory adjustments, NEAR finally 19 kilometers from the surface. After about ten
moved into orbit around Eros at 15:33 UT on days, it moved back into a higher orbit. On 26
14 February 2000, roughly a year later than October, NEAR performed another close flyby
intended. Orbital parameters were 321 x 366 of the surface, this time to just 5.3 kilometers.
kilometers. NEAR was the first humanmade In anticipation of the actual landing, the
object to orbit an asteroid. Through 2000, spacecraft conducted a flyby in January 2001
NEAR's orbit has been shifted in stages to down to a range of 2.7 kilometers and, in the
permit scientific research programs. There process, returned more spectacular pictures.
were a few problems before the landing on the
asteroid. For example, on 13 May 2000, con- The historic landing phase began at 15:32 UT
trollers had to turn off the NEAR Infrared on 12 February 2001, when Eros fired its
Spectrometer because of an excessive power engines to begin controlled descent. After a total
surge. By 30 April, the spacecra_ was in its of four thruster firings, at 20:01:52 UT on 12
operational orbit at an altitude of about 50 February, the spacecraft gingerly landed on the
kilometers from the center of Eros. Later on 13 surface of Eros at a gentle 1.6 meters per

_Deep Space Chronicle

Thisimage fromMarsGlobal Surveyor shows channeled aprons ina small craterwithin Newton Crater, a large
basinformed byanasteroid impact thatprobably occurred more than3 billion years ago.Itisapproximately
287kilometersacross.
Thepicture shown here (top)highlights
thenorth wallofa specific, smallercrater located
inthesouthwestern
quarterofNewton Crater (above).Thecrater ofinterestwasalsoformed byanimpact; itis
about7 kilometers
across, which isabout 7 times bigger thanthefamous Meteor Crater innorthern Arizona in
NorthAmerica.Thenorth wall of the small crater has many narrow gullies eroded into it. These are to have been
formed by flowing water and debris. Debris transported with the water created lobed and finger-like deposits at
the base of the crater wall where it intersects the floor (bottom center). Many of the finger-like deposits have small
channels, indicating that a liquid--mosl likely water--flowed in these areas. Hundreds of individual water and
debris flow events might have occurred to create the scene shown here. Each outburst of water from higher up
on the crater slopes would have constituted a competition among evaporation, freezing, and gravity.

second. During its entire descent, NEAR mately 160,000 images. On 14 March 2000, a
snapped a series of 69 spectacular photographs, month after entering asteroid orbit, NASA
the last one being a mere 120 meters from the renamed the NEAR spacecraft NEAR
surface. Touchdown was in an area just outside Shoemaker in honor of renowned geologist
a saddle-shaped depression known as Himeros. Eugene Shoemaker.
Eros was 196 million miles from Earth at the
time. Although the NEAR spacecraft was not 182)
designed to survive landing, its instruments Mars Global Surveyor
remained operational. Immediately after Nation: U.S. (69)

landing, NASA approved a ten-day extension Objective(s): Mars orbit

that was lengthened to fourteen days in order to Spacecraft: MGS
use the gamma-ray spectrometer. The last Spacecraft Mass: 1,062.1 kg
transmission from the spacecraft was at 00:00 Mission Design and Man,tgement: NASA JPL
UT on 1 March 2001• During the mission, Launch Vehicle: Delta 7925 (no. D239)
NEAR collected ten times more data than had Launch Date and Time: 7 November 1996 /

been originally planned and returned approxi- 17:00:49 UT

1996
 Launch
Site: ESMC / launch complex 17A mation on the Martian terrain, found com-
Scientific Instruments: pelling evidence indicating the presence of
1) MOC Mars orbital camera liquid water at or near the surface (formally
2) MOLA Mars orbital laser altimeter announced by NASA on 22 June 2000), and
3) TES thermal emission spectrometer photographed the infamous "face on Mars"
4) MAG/ER magnetometer/electron that some believed was an artificial formation.
reflectometer During its mission, the Mars Global Surveyor
5) RS radio science experiment also produced the first three-dimensional pro-
6) MR Mars relay antenna for future files of Mars's north pole using laser altimeter
spacecraft readings. By mid-2000, the spacecraft had
Results: Mars Global Surveyor was the first taken tens of thousands of high-resolution
spacecraft in NASA's new Mars Surveyor pro- photos of the Red Planet. Operations were
gram that was designed to inaugurate a new expected to end by 31 January 2001, but the
generation of American space probes to good health of onboard systems allowed scien-
explore Mars every twenty-six months from tists to continue the mission. All scientific
1996 to 2005. The Mars Surveyor program instruments remain operational as of mid-
(formulated in 1994) was intended to econo- 2001 and are expected to continue to at least
mize costs and maximize returns by involving April 2O02.
a single industrial partner with the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory to design, build, and 183)
deliver a flightworthy vehicle for Mars every Mars 8 / Mars-96

two years. The Mars Global Surveyor space- Nation: Russia (106)
craft carries five instruments similar to those 0bjective(s): Mars orbit and landing
carried by the lost Mars Observer probe that Spacecraft: M1 (no. 520)
fell silent in 1993. After midcourse corrections Spacecraft Mass: 6,200 kg
on 21 November 1996 and 20 March 1997, Mission Design and Management: NPO
Mars Global Surveyor entered orbit around Lavochkin

Mars on 12 September 1997 after engine igni- Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D-2 (Proton-K

tion at 01:17 UT. Initial orbital parameters no. 392-02)

were 258 x 54,021 kilometers. Commencement Launch Date and Time: 16 November 1996 /
of its planned two-year mission was delayed 20:48:53 UT
because one of its two solar panels (-Y) had not Launch Site: GIIK-5 / launch site 200L

fully deployed soon after launch, prompting Scientific Instruments:

mission planners to reconfigure the aero- Orbiter:
braking process required to place the vehicle 1) ASPERA-C energy-mass
in its intended orbit. The solar panels were experiment
designed to act as atmospheric brakes to 2) FONEMA omni non-scanning
change orbit. The modified aerobraking energy-mass ion analyzer
maneuver altered the planned orbit from an 3) DYMIO omni ionosphere energy
afternoon pass over the equator to a nighttime mass spectrometer
pass and also delayed the mission by a year 4) MARIPROB ionosphere plasma
and shortened its projected lifetime. The spectrometers
spacecraft's revised aerobraking maneuvers 5) MAREMF electron analyzer/
were finally completed on 4 February 1999 magnetometer
with a major burn from its main engine. A sub- 6) ELISMA wave complex experiment
sequent firing on 19 February finally put Mars 7) SLED-2 low-energy charged-particle
Global Surveyor into a Sun-synchronous orbit, spectrometer
and on 9 March 1999, its mapping mission for- 8) PGS precision gamma spectrometer
mally began. Despite the early problems, Mars 9) LILAS-2 cosmic and solar gamma-
Global Surveyor began to send back impres- burst spectrometer
sive data and images of Mars during its move- 10) EVRIS stellar oscillations
ment to its new orbit. The spacecraft tracked photometer
the evolution of a dust storm, gathered infor- 11) RADIUS-MD dosimeter

o. Deep Space Chronicle_ " .......... _ ............. ---- .........

 12) MORION-S science data acquisition shell that was to split open after landing. The
instrument stations were to have transmitted data daily

13} ARGUS imaging system (initially) and then every three days for about
14) TERMOSCAN mapping radiometer 20 minutes each session. The stations would

15) SVET mapping spectrometer have studied soil characteristics and taken

16) SPICAM multichannel spectrometer photos on the surface. The two 75-kilogram

17) UVS-M ultraviolet spectrometer (each) penetrators, meanwhile, would have

18) LWR longwave radar impacted the Martian surface at a speed of 76

19) NEUTRON-S neutron spectrometer meters per second to reach about 6 to 8
20) PFS infrared Fourier spectrometer meters in depth. The orbiter would have

21) PHOTON gamma spectrometer released them after entering Martian orbit

22) MAK quadruple mass spectrometer (between seven and twenty-eight days after
Small autonomous stations leach}: entering orbit). During the mission's one-year

11 MIS meteorology instrument lifetime, the penetrators would have served as

nodes of a seismic network. The Proton-K
system
21 DPI three-component accelerometer launch vehicle successfully delivered the pay-

31 APX alpha-particle proton and load to Earth orbit (after the first firing of the

x-ray spectrometer Blok D-2 upper stage). At that point, the Blok
4) OPTIMIZM seismometer/magne- D-2 was to fire once again to place Mars 8 into
tometer/inclinometer an elliptical orbit, after which the Fregat

5) PanCam panoramic camera propulsion module would have sent the space-

6) DesCam descent phase camera craft on a Martian encounter trajectory. The

Penetrators (each): Blok D-2 engine, however, shut down prema-
1) TV camera turely after only 20 seconds as a result of a

2) MECOM meteorological unit command from the payload, thus putting its

3) PEGAS gamma-ray spectrometer precious payload into an incorrect orbit of

4) ANGSTREM x-ray spectrometer 145.7 x 171.1 kilometers. Mars 8 and its

51 ALPHA alpha/proton spectrometer Fregat module then automatically separated

6) NEUTRON-P neutron spectrometer from the Blok D-2. The latter seems to have

7) GRUNT accelermneters fired tas planned earlier), placing Mars 8 in

8) TERMOZOND temperature probes an 87 x 1,500-kilometer orbit that deposited
9) Kamerton seismometer the planetary probe in Earth's atmosphere.

10) IMAP-6 magnetometer Reports at the time suggested that debris

Results: Mars 8, the only Soviet/Russian lunar from Mars 8 may have fallen in Chile or

or planetary probe in twelve years (1988 to Bolivia, contaminating areas with its pluto-
2000), was an ambitious mission to investi- nium power source. Mars 8 was scheduled to
gate the evolution of the Martian atmosphere, arrive in Mars orbit on 23 September 1997.

its surface, and its interior. The entire space-

craft comprised an orbiter, two small 184)

autonomous stations, and two independent Mars Pathfinder

penetrators. The three-axis stabilized orbiter Nation: U.S. (70)

carried two platforms for pointing several Oblective(s): Mars landing and roving operations
optical instruments for studying the Martian Spacecraft: Mars Pathfinder
surface and atmosphere. After an initial Spacecraft Mass: 870 kg
period in low orbit lasting three to four weeks Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL

acting as a relay to the landers, the orbiter Launch Vehicle: Delta 7925 (no. D240)

would have spent approximately two Earth Launch Date and Time: 4 December 1996 /

years in a 250 x 18,000-kilometer orbit at 101 ° 06:58:07 UT

inclination mapping Mars. The orbiter would Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 17B
have released the two small autonomous sta- Scientific Instruments:

tions four to five days before entering orbit. Pathfinder lander:

The small stations would have landed on the 1) IMP imaging system (included mag-
Martian surface, cushioned by an inflatable nets and wind socks)
In the summerof 1997, the Mars Pathfinder excited
people around the globe as itstiny Rover,"Sojourner,"
setabout exploring the Red Planet.
 2} APXS alpha/proton/x-ray longitude in Ares Vallis, about 19 kilometers
spectrometer southwest of the original target, hnpact
3) ASI/MET atmospheric speed was about 10.5 meters per second; the
structure/meteorology package spacecraft bounced several times before
Sojourner rover: coming to a complete stop. The next day,
1) imaging system (three cameras) Pathfinder deployed the Sojourner rover on
2) laser stripers the Martian surface via landing ramps.
3) accelerometers Sojourner was the first wheeled vehicle to be
4) potentiometers used on any other planet of the solar system.
Results: Mars Pathfinder was an ambitious During its eighty-three-day mission, the
mission to send a lander and a separate, rover covered hundreds of square meters,
remote-controlled rover to the surface of returned 550 photographs, and performed
Mars, the second of NASA's Discovery mis- chemical analyses at sixteen different loca-
sions. Launched one month after Mars Global tions near the lander The latter, meanwhile,
Surveyor, Pathfinder was sent on a slightly transmitted more than 16,500 images and 8.5
shorter seven-month trajectory designed tbr million measurements of atmospheric pres-
earlier arrival. The main spacecraft, included sure, temperature, and windspeed. Data from
a 10.6-kilogram, six-wheeled rover known as the rover suggested that rocks at the landing
Sojourner capable of traveling 500 meters site resembled terrestrial volcanic types with
from the main ship at top speeds of 1 cen- high silicon content, specifically a rock type
timeter per second. The mission's primary known as andesite. Although the planned
goal was not only to demonstrate innovative, lifetimes of Pathfinder and Sojourner were
low-cost technologies, but also to return geo- expected to be one month and one week,
logical, soil, magnetic property, and atmos- respectively, these times were exceeded by
pheric data. After a seven-month traverse three and twelve times, respectively. Final
and four trajectory corrections (on 10 contact with Pathfinder was at 10:23 UT on
JanuarN 3 February, 6 May, and 25 June 27 September" 1997. Although mission plan-
1997), Pathfinder arrived at Mars on 4 July ners tried to reestablish contact for the next
1997. The spacecraft entered the atmosphere five months, the highly successful mission
and was then slowed by aerobraking, retro- was officially declared terminated on 10
rockets, and a parachute before bouncing on March 1998. After landing, Mars Pathfinder
the surface using cushioned landing bags was renamed the Sagan Memorial Station
that had deployed 8 seconds before impact. after the late astronomer and planetologist
Pathfinder landed at 16:56:55 UT on 4 July Carl Sagan.
1997 at 19.30 ° north latitude and 33.52 ° west

• " ..... 1996

• -" Deep Space Chronicle
 1997
185) borne energetic particles from the L1
ACE Libration Point, about 1.4 million kilometers
Nation: U.S. (71) from Earth. Specifically, the spacecraft was
0bjective(s): L1 Libration Point launched to investigate the matter ejected
Spacecraft: ACE from the Sun to establish the commonality
Spacecraft Mass: 752 kg and interaction among the Sun, Earth, and the
Mission Design and Management: NASA GSFC Milky Way galaxy. In addition, ACE also pro-
Launch Vehicle: Delta 7920-8 (no. D247) vides real-time space weather data and
Launch Date and rime: 25 August 1997 / advanced warning of geomagnetic storms.
14:39 UT ACE's nine instruments have a collecting
Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 17A power that is 10 to 1O,000 times greater than
Scientific Instruments: anything previously flown. After launch, the
1) SWIMS solar wind ion mass spacecraft's Delta 2 launch vehicle's second
spectrometer stage reignited (for 4 hours) to insert the satel-
2) SWlCS solar wind ion composition lite into a 177 x 1.37-million-kilometer orbit.
spectrometer After reaching apogee a month after launch,
3) ULEIS ultra-low-energy isotope ACE inserted itself into its halo orbit around
spectrometer the L1 point. The spacecraft was declared
4) SEPICA solar energetic-particle operational on 21 January 1998, with a pro-
ionic charge analyzer jected two- to five-year lifetime. With the
5) SIS solar isotope spectrometer exception of the SEPICA solar energetic-
6) CRIS cosmic-ray isotope particle ionic charge analyzer, all instruments
spectrometer on ACE were operational as of June 2001.
7) SWEPAM solar wind electron,
proton, and alpha monitor 186)
8) EPAM electron, proton, and alpha- Cassini/Huygens
particle monitor NationOrganization: U.S., ESA, and the ASI (1)
9) MAG magnetometer 0bjective(s): Saturn orbit and Titan landing
10_ RTSW real-time solar wind Spacecraft: Cassini and Huygens
experiment Spacecraft Mass: 5,655 kg
Results: The Advanced Composition Explorer Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
(ACE) spacecraft was designed to study space- and ESA
Launch
Vehicle: Titan 401B-Centaur (TC-21 / past landing, scientists hope that Huygens
Titan 401 no. 4B-33) might return data after touchdown. Cassini's
Launch Date and Time: 15 October 1997 / trip to Saturn includes four gravity-assists.
08:43 UT Seven months after launch, the spacecraft
Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 40 passed Venus on 26 April 1988 at a range of
Scientific Instruments: 284 kilometers, gaining 26,280 kilometers
Cassini: per hour. Cassini performed a second flyby of
11 VIMS visual infrared mapping Venus on 24 June 1999 at a range of 600 kilo-
spectrometer meters and one of Earth at 03:28 UT on 18

2/ ISS imaging system August 1999 at a range of 1,171 kilometers; it

31 RADAR instrument then headed to Jupiter. During this portion of
4) ion neutral mass spectrometer the traverse, Cassini passed by the asteroid
5) plasma/radio wave spectrometer 2685 Masursky on 23 January 2000, coming
6) plasma spectrometer close to a distance of 1.5 million kilometers at
7) ultraviolet spectrometer/imager 09:58 UT. During the encounter, Cassini used
8) magnetospheric imaging its remote-sensing instruments to investigate
instrument the asteroid's size and dimensions and

9) dual technique magnetmneter albedo. During the Jupiter encounter, on 30

10) RF instrument subsystem December 2000, Cassini performed simulta-
11) composite infrared spectrometer neous observations of the planet with the
Huygens: Galileo probe. Once past Jupiter, Cassini's
1/ HASI atmospheric structure trajectory will be set up for a Saturn
instrument encounter beginning 1 July 2004. Cassini is
2) GCMS gas chromatograph neutral scheduled to go into a 147-day orbit around
mass spectrometer Saturn eleven days later. Parameters are
3) ACP aerosol collector/pyrolyser expected to be 1.3 x 176 RS with a 17 ° incli-
4) DISR descent imager/spectral nation. About four months after entering
radiometer orbit, on 6 November 2004, Cassini will
5) SSP surface science package release the Huygens probe and continue on
6) DWE Doppler wind experiment its numerous flybys. The orbiter is expected
Results: The Cassini-Huygens project is the to fly by Titan during number 33 of its 63-
result of plans at NASA dating from the early orbit mission with a closest approach of 950
1980s. The cooperative project with ESA kilometers. The spacecraft will also perform
involves a NASA-supplied spacecraft, close flybys of the other moons (including
Cassini, which is on a 3.2-billion-kilometer Iapetus, Enceladus, Dione, and Rhea) and
journey to Saturn orbit, and a lander, more distant encounters with Tethys, Mimes,
Huygens, supplied by ESA (with major par- and Hyperion. The orbiter's mission is sched-
ticipation by the Italian Space Agency), uled to end formally on 30 June 2008.
which will descend into the atmosphere of Meanwhile, the European Huygens probe
Titan, Saturn's largest moon. During its will enter Titan's atmosphere on 27
scheduled four-year mission near Saturn, November 2004. During its 2.5-hour descent,
Cassini will use a large complement of the spacecraft will deploy a main parachute
instruments (including radar and optical for stabilization while it relays data back to
imagers expected to return up to 300,000 the orbiter for subsequent transmission back
images) to explore both Saturn and its many to Earth.
moons. The 3,132-kilogram orbiter, with a
design life of eleven years, is powered by 187)
three RTGs. The 335-kilogram probe, during Asiasat 3 / "HGS 1"
its descent, will determine Titan's atmos- Organization: Asia Satellite
phere's chemical properties and measure Telecommunications Co. (D

winds, temperature, and pressure profiles 0bjective(s): geostationary orbit

from 170 kilometers down to the surface. Spacecraft: Asiasat 1
Although the probe is not designed to survive Spacecraft Mass: 3,465 kg

[)eePSpaceChr°_)cle __ i_ i i]_.-_ .... _ - - .

Mission Design and Management: inally intended geostationary orbit by using
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok DM3 (Proton- as little propellant as possible. Using eleven
K no. 394-01 / Blok DM3 no. 5L) carefully planned burns beginning 12 April
Launch Date and Time: 24 December 1997 / 1998, controllers raised the orbit's apogee to
23:19 UT 321,000 kilometers. Then, with the twelfth
Launch Site: GIIK-5 / launch site 81L firing on 7 May 1998, the spacecraft was sent
Scientific Instruments: none on a nine-day round trip around the Moon,
Results: Asiasat 3 was a communications approaching as close as 6,200 kilometers to
satellite, launched by the Russians for Asia its surface on 13 May. Using this gravity-

Satellite Telecommunications Company, that assist, Asiasat 3 hurtled back into a usable

ended up in an incorrect orbit after a failure orbit. By 16 May 1998, perigee had been

of the Blok DM3 upper stage. Because of the raised to 42,000 kilometers and inclination

improper second firing of the Blok DM3, the reduced from 51 ° to 18 °. A second circum-

satellite ended up in a useless 203 x 36,000- lunar mission began on 1 June and culmi-
kilometer orbit and was written off as a loss nated in a 34,300-kilometer flyby of the

by Asiasat. Insurance underwriters subse- Moon. After four more engine firings, the

quently signed an agreement with Hughes satellite was finally in a 24-hour orbit by 17

Global Systems (who also built the satellite) June 1998, above 153 ° . The satellite, now

to salvage the vehicle and bring it to its orig- owned by Hughes, has been renamed HGS 1.

171
 1998
188) was continued investigation into the signs of
Lunar Prospector water ice on the Moon as found by the
Nation: U.S. 172) Clementine probe. Lunar Prospector's data
Objective(s): lunar orbit showed an estimated six billion tons of water
Spacecraft: Lunar Prospector ice trapped in the shadows of lunar polar
Spacecraft Mass: 300 kg regions. The spacecraft also detected strong
Mission Design and Management: NASA ARC localized magnetic fields; mapped the global
Launch Vehicle: Athena-2 (LM-004) distribution of major rock types; and discov-
Launch Date and Time: 7 January 1998 / ered signs of a tiny, iron-rich core. On
02:28:44 UT 10 December 1998, Lunar Prospector's orbit
Launch Site: WSMC / SLC-46 was lowered to 40 kilometers to perform high-
Scientific Instruments: resolution studies. A subsequent maneuver on
1) MAG magnetometer 28 January 1999 changed the orbit to 15 x 45
2) ER electron reflectometer kilometers and ended the space probe's pri-
3) GRS gamma-ray spectrometer mary mission. Lunar Prospector was deliber-
4) NS neutron spectrometer ately landed on a shadowed crater on the
5) APS alpha particle spectrometer lunar surface at 09:52:02 UT on 31 July 1999.
6) DGE Doppler gravity experiment During the descent, the spacecraft failed to
(using S-band antenna) find any observable signature of water. The
Results: Lunar Prospector was the third mis- vehicle carried the cremated remains of geol-
sion selected as part of NASA's Discovery pro- ogist Eugene Shoemaker to the lunar surface.
gram of low-cost missions. The spacecraft was
designed to create the first complete composi- 189)
tional and gravity maps of the Moon during Noz0mi
its one-year mission. After two midcourse cor- Nation: Japan (4)
rections, Lunar Prospector entered orbit 0bjective(s): Mars orbit, lunar flybys
around the Moon 105 hours after launch. Spacecraft: Planet-B
Initial parameters were 92 x 153 kilometers. Spacecraft Mass: 536 kg
After two further corrections on 13 and 15 Mission Design and Management: ISAS
January, the spacecraft entered its opera- Launch Vehicle: M-5 (no. 3)
tional 100- x 100-kilometer orbit at 90 ° incli- Launch Date and Time: 3 July 1998 / 18:12 UT
nation. Perhaps of most interest to scientists Launch Site: Kagoshima / launch complex M-5
 Scientific Instruments: mission is planned for two Earth years but
1) MIC visible camera may be extended to three to five years
2) MGF magnetometer depending on the state of the spacecraft.
3) ESA energetic electrons experiment
4) ISA energetic ions experiment 190)
5_ IMI energetic ion mass experiment Deep Space 1
6) EIS high-energy particles Nation: U.S. (73)
experiment 0bjective(s): asteroid flyby
7) TPA thermal ion drift experiment Spacecraft: DS 1
8) PET electro, UVS ultraviolet Spacecraft Mass: 489 kg
spectrometer Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL
9) PWS sounder/HF waves experiment Launch Vehicle: Delta 7326-9.5 (no. D261)
101 LFA plasma waves experiment Launch Date and Time: 24 October 1998 /
11) NMS neutral gas mass spectrometer 12:08:00 UT
12) MDC dust counter Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 17A
13) XUV EUV spectrometer Scientific Instruments:
14) USO ultra-stable oscillator/radio 1) MICAS miniature integrated
science experiment camera-spectrometer
Results: Nozomi, Japan's fourth "deep space" 2) PEPE plasma experinmnt for plane-
probe, was also its first planetary spacecraft. tary exploration technology
The spacecraft was slated to enter a highly Results: Deep Space 1 (DS 1) was designed to
elliptical orbit around Mars on 11 October test innovative technologies appropriate for
1999. Its mission is to conduct long-term future deep space and interplanetary mis-
investigations of the planet's upper atmos- sions. It is the first in a new series of tech-
phere and its interactions with the solar wind nology demonstration missions under NASA's
and to track the escape trajectories of oxygen New Millennium program. The spacecraft's
molecules from Mars' thin atmosphere. The main goals are to test such technologies as ion
spacecraft is expected to take pictures of the propulsion, autonomous optical navigation, a
planet and its moons from its operational solar power concentration array, a miniature
orbit of 300 x 47,500 kilometers. During camera, and an imaging spectrometer during
perigee, Nozomi will perform remote sensing a flyby of the asteroid 1992 KD (renamed
of the atmosphere and surface; while close to 9969 Braille). A month after launch, on 24
apogee, the spacecraft will study ions and November 1998, controllers fired the Deep
neutral gas escaping from the planet. Space l's ion propulsion system (fueled by
Although designed and built by Japan, the xenon gas) while the spacecraft was 4.8 mil-
spacecraft carries a set of fourteen instru- lion kilometers from Earth. The engine ran
ments from Japan, Canada, Germany, continuously for 14 days and demonstrated a
Sweden, and the United States. Aider specific impulse of 3,100 seconds, as much as
entering an elliptical parking orbit around ten times higher than possible with conven-
Earth, Nozomi was sent on an interplanetary tional chemical propellants. DS 1 passed by
trajectory that involved two gravity-assist the near-Earth asteroid 9669 Braille at 04:46
flybys of the Moon on 24 September and 18 UT on 29 July 1999 at a range of only 26 kilo-
December 1998 (at 2,809 kilometers), and one meters at a speed of 15.5 kilometers per
of Earth on 20 December 1998/at 1,003 kilo- second. It was the closest asteroid flyby to
meters). Due to insufficient velocity imparted date. Photographs taken and other data col-
during the Earth flyby and two trajectory cor- lected during the encounter were transmitted
rection burns on 21 December 1998 that used back to Earth in the following few days. DS 1
more propellant than intended, Nozomi's found Braille to be 2.2 kilometers at its
originally planned mission had to be com- longest and 1 kilometer at its shortest. Once
pletely reconfigured. The spacecraft, cur- the very successful primary mission was over
rently in heliocentric orbit, is now planned to on 18 September 1999, NASA formulated an
arrive in Mars orbit in December 2003, four extended mission. Originally, the plan had
years after its original schedule. A nominal been to make DS 1 fly by the dormant Comet

_-[)-eep Space Chronicle " " -

Wilson-Harrington in January 2001 and the (launched in November 1996) and Mars Polar
Comet Borrelly in September 2001, but the Lander (launched in January 1999). Mars
spacecraft's star tracker failed on 11 Climate Orbiter was designed to arrive at
November 1999. Mission planners revised the roughly the same time as Mars Polar Lander
manifest to include a flyby that would not and conduct simultaneous investigations of
require a star-tracker--a single flyby of Mars's atmosphere, climate, and surface.
Borrelly in September 2001. By the end of Mars Climate Orbiter was also designed to
1999, the ion engine ofDS 1 had expended 22 serve as a communications relay for the latter.
kilograms of xenon to impart a total delta V of After the lander's three-month mission, MCO

1,300 meters per second. On its way to would have performed a two-year inde-
Borrelly, it set the record for the longest oper- pendent mission to monitor atmospheric dust
ating time for a propulsion system in space. and water vapor and take daily pictures of the
By 17 August 2000, the engine had been oper- planet's surface to construct an evolutionary
ating for 162 days as part of an eight-month map of climatic changes. Scientists hoped that
run. On 22 September 2001, DS 1 flew past such information would aid in reconstructing
the coma of Comet Borrelly at 16.5 kilometers Mars' climatic history and provide evidence of
per second to obtain pictures and infrared buried water reserves. The spacecraft was
spectra of the nucleus. NASA terminated con- scheduled to arrive in Mars orbit on 23
tact with DS 1 on 18 December 2001, sig- September 1999 and attain its operational
naling the end to one of the more successful near-circular Sun-synchronous orbit at 421
deep space missions in recent history. kilometers by 1 December 1999. After the end
of its main mapping mission on 15 ,January
191) 2001, Mars Climate Orbiter would have acted
Mars Climate Orbiter as a communications relay for future NASA
Nation: U.S. 174) missions to Mars. After launch, the spacecraft
Objective(s): Mars orbit performed four midcourse corrections on 21
Spacecraft: MCO December 1998, 4 March, 25 July, and 15
Spacecraft Mass: 629 kg September 1999. At 09:01 UT (received time)
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL on 23 September 1999, the orbiter began its
Launch Vehicle: Delta 7427-9.5 (no. D264) Mars orbit insertion burn as planned. The
Launch Date and Time: 11 December 1998 / spacecraft was scheduled to reestablish con-
18:45:51 UT tact after passing behind Mars, but no further
Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 17A signals were received from the spacecraft. An
Scientific Instruments: investigation indicated that the failure
1) PMIRR pressure modulated resulted from a navigational error due to
infrared radiometer commands from Earth being sent in English
2) MARCI Mars color imaging system units without being converted into the metric
(two cameras) standard. The error caused the orbiter to miss
3) UHF communications system its intended 140- to 150-kilometer altitude
Results: Mars Climate Orbiter was the second orbit and instead fall into the Martian atmos-

probe in NASA's Mars Surveyor program, phere at approximately 57 kilometers altitude

which also included the Mars Global Surveyor and burn up.
 1999
192) carbon dioxide icecap about 1,O00 kilometers
Mars Polar Lander/Deep Space 2 from the south pole. The mission called for
Nation: U.S. (75) recording local meteorological conditions, ana-
Objective(s): Mars landing lyzing samples of polar deposits, and taking
Spacecraft: MPL multispectral images of local areas. MPL was
Spacecraft Mass: 583 kg to have performed its mission simultaneously
Mission Design and Management: NASA JPL with that of the Mars Climate Orbiter, which
Launch Vehicle: De]ta 7425-9.5 (no. D265) would have acted as a communications relay
Launch Date and Time: 3 January 1999 / during its surface operations. MPL itself com-
20:21:10 UT prised a bus section (for power, propulsion,
Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 17B and communications during the outbound
Scientific Instruments: voyage) and a 290-kilogram lander that stood
1) MVACS Mars volatile and climate 1.06 meters tall on the ground. The lander
surveyor instrument package was equipped with a 2-meter-long remote arm
a) SSI stereo surface imager to dig into the terrain and investigate the
b) RA robotic arm properties of Martian soil (using the thermal
c) MET meteorology package and evolved gas analyzer). MPL was supposed
d) TEGA thermal and evolved gas to arrive at Mars on 3 December 1999. After
analyzer atmospheric entry, about 10 minutes prior to
e) RAC robotic arm camera landing, the spacecraft was to jettison its
21 MARDI Mars descent imager cruise stage and solar panels and then release
3) LIDAR light detection and ranging the two 3.572-kilogram (each) Deep Space 2
instrument microprobes. Unlike Mars Pathfinder, MPL
Results: The Mars Polar Lander (MPL) was one was scheduled to make a completely con-
of NASA's Mars Surveyor missions that called trolled landing using retro-rockets all the way
for a series of small, low-cost spacecraft for to the surface. Landing was scheduled for
sustained exploration of Mars. MPL's primary 21:03 UT on 3 December 1999, with two-way
goal was to deploy a lander and two penetra- communications planned to begin 20 minutes
tors (known as Deep Space 2) on the surface of later. The two Deep Space 2 microprobes
Mars to extend our knowledge on the planet's (renamed Amundsen and Scott on 15
past and present water resources. The objec- November 1999), meanwhile, would impact
tive was to explore the never-before-studied the ground at a speed of 200 meters per

1999_
second at about 50 to 85 seconds prior to the Results: Stardust is an ambitious mission, the
lander's touchdown about 100 kilometers fourth of NASA's Discovery program of low-
awas: Each penetrator was designed to obtain cost exploration missions (after NEAR, Mars
a small sample of subsurface soil using an Pathfinder, and Lunar Prospector). Its pri-
electric drill for analysis. The microprobes' mary goal was to fly by the Comet Wild-2, col-
mission was expected to last about 36 hours, lect samples of dust from the coma of the
while the lander mission would continue until comet, and then return the samples to Earth.
1 March 2000. In the event, contact with MPL During flight, Stardust was to collect samples
was lost at 20:00 UT on 3 December, about 6 of interstellar dust grains. Scientists on
minutes prior to atmospheric entry. With no Earth expect to pertbrm detailed analyses of
communications for over two weeks, on 16 these samples, which represent primitive
December 1999, NASA used the Mars Global substances from the time the solar system
Surveyor orbiting Mars to look for signs of the was formed. Stardust collected the samples
lander on the Martian surface, but the search using a low-density microporous silica-based
proved fruitless. On 17 January 2000, NASA substance known as aerogel attached to
finally terminated all attempts to establish panels on the spacecraft to "soft-catch" and
contact with the lost lander: An independent preserve the cometary materials. The space-
investigation into the failure, whose results craft was launched into heliocentric orbit and

were released publicly on 28 March 2000, performed midcourse corrections on 28

indicated that the most probable cause of the December 1999 and 18 January, 20 January,
fidlure was the generation of spurious signals and 22 January' 2000. Its first interstellar
when the lander's legs deployed during the dust collection operation was carried out
descent. These signals falsely indicated that between 22 February and 1 May 2000. After

the spacecraft had touched down on Mars approximately a year in heliocentric orbit,
when in fact it was still descending. The main Stardust flew by Earth for a gravity-assist
engines prematurely shut down, and the (closest approach to Earth was at 11:13 UT
lander fell to the Martian landscape. on 15 January 2001 at a range of' 6,012 kilo-
meters) to send it on a second sample-collec-
193) tion exercise between July and December
Stardust 2002. Stardust is expected to encounter
Nation: U.S. (76) Comet Wild-2 on 2 January 2004, when the
0bjective(s): comet sample return spacecraft will pass as close as 150 kilome-
Spacecraft: Stardust ters while flying at a relative speed of 6.1
Spacecraft Mass: 385 kg kilometers per second. Apart from collecting
Mission Design and Management: samples, Stardust will also take photographs
Launch Vehicle: Delta 7426-9.5 (no. D266) of the comet's nucleus with a resolution of 30

Launch Date and lime: 7 February 1999 / meters. On 15 January 2006, Stardust will
21:04:15 UT release its spin-stabilized Sample Return
Launch Site: ESMC / launch complex 17A Capsule (SRC), which is expected to descend
Scientific Instruments: by parachute over the U.S. Air Force Test and
1) aerogel dust collectors Training Range in Utah at approximately
2) CIDA cometary and interstellar 03:00 local time. The sample will be recovered
dust analyzer by a chase aircraft.
3) NavCam navigation camera
4) DFM Whipple shield flux monitors

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Abbreviations

AFBMD Air Force Ballistic Missile Division

ARC Ames Research Center
ASI Italian Space Agency
AU astronomical unit

DoD Department of Defense

DSPSE Deep Space Program Science Experiment

ESA European Space Agency

ESMC Eastern Space and Missile Center
ETR Eastern Test Range

GSFC Goddard Space Flight Center

GSMZ Lavochkin Lavochkin State Union Machine Building Plant

IASTP Inter-Agency Solar-Terrestrial Physics (Program)

ISAS Institute of Space and Astronautical Science

JPL Jet Propulsion Laboratory

KSC Kennedy Space Center

LaRC Langley Research Center

NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration

NEAR Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous
NIIP-5 Scientific-Research and Testing Range No. 5 (Baykonur)
NPO Lavochkin Lavochkin Scientific-Production Association

OKB-1 Experimental Design Bureau No. 1

 SETI Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence
SOHO Solar and Heliospheric Observatory
SSI Solid State Imaging (system)
STL Space Technology Laboratories
STSP Solar Terrestrial Science Programme

TETR-B Test and Training Satellite

TsKBEM Central Design Bureau of Experimental Machine Building
(formerly OKB-1 )

V,S. United States (of America)

USAF U.S. Air Force
USSR Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (Soviet Union)
UT Universal Time

WSMC Western Space and Missile Center

' D_eepSpaceCh[°.n!c_!e_ .. - ................... i ...... L._-_ _-L.___II i--i--_-

 ._Appendix 2
Lunar, Planetary, and Deep Space "Firsts"

Overall

First lunar probe attempt:

U.S. / Able 1 / 17 August 1958

First probe to reach escape velocity:

USSR / Luna 1 / 2 January 1959

First probe to heliocentric orbit:

USSR / Luna 1 / 2 January 1959

First spacecraft to impact on another celestial body (Moon):

USSR / Luna 2 / 14 September 1959

First spacecraft to fly by the Moon:

USSR / Luna 3 / 6 October 1959

First photographs of the far side of the Moon:

USSR / Luna 3 / 6 October 1959

First Mars probe attempt:

USSR / [Mars] / 10 October 1960

First spacecraft to fly past Venus successfully:

U.S. / Mariner 2 / 14 December 1962

First spacecraft to fly past Mars successfully:

U.S. / Mariner 4 / 15 July 1965
First spacecraft to impact another planet (Venus):
USSR / Venera 3 / 1 March 1966

First spacecraft to make a survivable landing on the Moon:

USSR / Luna 9 / 3 February 1966

First spacecraft to orbit the Moon:

USSR / Luna 10 / 2 April 1966

First spacecraft to take pictures of Earth from the Moon:

U.S. / Lunar Orbiter 2 / 23 August 1966

First successful planetary atmospheric entry probe (Venus):

USSR / Venera 4 / 18 October 1967

First ]iftoff from the Moon:

U.S. / Surveyor 6 / 17 November 1967

First successful circumlunar mission:

USSR /Zond 5 / 14-21 September 1968

First transmission from the surface of another planet (Venus):

USSR / Venera 7 / 15 December 1970

First robotic spacecraft to recover and return lunar samples:

USSR/Luna 16/12-21 September 1970

First wheeled vehicle on the Moon:

USSR / Lunokhod 1 / 17 November 1970

First spacecraft to impact on Mars:

USSR / Mars 2 / 27 November 1971

First spacecraft to enter orbit around a planet (Mars):

U.S. / Mariner 9 / 14 November 1971

First spacecraft to fly through the asteroid belts:

U.S. / Pioneer 10 / out in February 1973

First spacecraft to fly past Jupiter:

U.S. / Pioneer 10 / 4 December 1973

First spacecraft to use gravity-assist to change its trajectory:

U.S. / Mariner 10 / 5 February 1974 (at Venus)

First spacecraft to fly past Mercury:

U.S. / Mariner 10 / 29 March 1974

First spacecraft to transmit photos from the surface of another planet (Venus):
USSR / Venera 9 / 22 October 1975

First spacecraft to orbit Venus:

USSR / Venera 9 / 22 October 1975
Firstspacecraft totakephotos onthesurface
ofMars:
U.S./ Viking I / 20 July 1976

First spacecraft to orbit a libration point:

U.S. / ISEE-3 / 20 November 1978

First spacecraft to fly past Saturn:

U,S. / Pioneer 11 / 1 September 1979

First spacecraft to leave the solar system:

U.S. / Pioneer 10 / 13 June 1983

First spacecraft to fly past a comet (Comet Giacobini-Zinner):

U.S./ISEE-3 / 11 September 1985

First spacecraft to fly past Uranus:

U.S. / Voyager 2 / 24 January 1986

First spacecraft to fly past Neptune:

U.S. / Voyager 2 / 25 August 1989

First spacecraft to use Earth for a gravity-assist:

ESA / Giotto / 2 July 1990

First spacecraft to use aerobraking to reduce velocity:

Japan / ttiten / 19 March 1991

First spacecraft to fly past an asteroid (Gaspra}:

U.S. / Galileo / 29 October 1991

First spacecraft to enter Jupiter's atmosphere:

U.S. / Galileo Probe / 7 December 1995

First spacecraft to orbit Jupiter:

U.S. / Galileo Orbiter / 8 December 1995

First wheeled vehicle on another planet (Mars):

U.S. / Sojourner / 5 July 1997

First spacecraft to orbit an asteroid (Eros):

U.S. / NEAR / 14 February 2000

First spacecraft to land on an asteroid (Eros}:

U,S. / NEAR Shoemaker / 12 February 2001

Mercury

First flyby:
U.S. / Mariner 10 / 29 March 1974

.... Appendix
Venus

First probe attempt:

USSR / [Venera] / 4 February 1961

First successful flyby:

U.S. / Mariner 2 / 14 December 1962

First impact:
USSR / Venera 3 / 1 March 1966

First successful atmospheric entry:

USSR / Venera 4 / 18 October 1967

First soft-landing:
USSR / Venera 7 / 15 December 1970

First surface photos:

USSR / Venera 9 / 22 October 1975

First orbiter:
USSR / Venera 9 / 22 October 1975

Moon

First lunar probe attempt:

U.S. / Able 1 / 17 August 1958

First impact:
USSR / Luna 2 / 14 September 1959

First flyby:
USSR / Luna 3 / 6 October 1959

First photos of the far side:

USSR / Luna 3 / 6 October 1959

First survivable landing:

USSR / Luna 9 / 3 February 1966

First orbiter:
USSR / Luna 10 / 2 April 1966

First liftoff from the Moon:

U.S. / Surveyor 6 / 17 November 1967

First successful circumlunar mission:

USSR /Zond 5 / 14-21 September 1968

First robotic soil sample:

USSR/Luna 16/12-21 September 1970
 FirstwheeledvehicleontheMoon:
USSR/ Lunokhod 1 / 17 November 1970

Mars

First probe attempt:

USSR / [Mars] / 10 October 1960

First successful flyby:

U.S. / Mariner 4 / 15 July 1965

First spacecraft to orbit:

U.S. / Mariner 9 / 14 November 1971

First impact:
USSR / Mars 2 / 27 November 1971

First surface photos:

U.S. / Viking 1 / 20 July 1976

First wheeled vehicle:

U.S. / Sojourner / 5 July 1997

Jupiter

First flyby:
U.S. / Pioneer 1O / 4 December 1973

First atmospheric entry:

U.S. / Galileo Probe / 7 December 1995

First orbiter:
U.S. / Galileo Orbiter / 8 December 1995

Saturn

First flyby:
U.S. / Pioneer 11 / 1 September 1979

Uranus

First flyby:
U.S. / Voyager 2 / 24 January 1986

Neptune

First flyby:
U.S. / Voyager 2 / 25 August 1989

............. Appendix 2
• Deep Spa ce Ch!onicle _ ..............
 _.,j _.r_ ,_ ._ _L_._ ....

• E _ IL_: <i -r¸¸¸ ,

r_L
.L,

>L

--Z

_r

J_ _r
 .......... Bibliography
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 About the Author
AsifA. Siddiqi was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Politics, was published in Dhaka, Bangladesh
and educated in Bangladesh, the United in 1991.
Kingdom, and the United States.
He is currently a Ph.D. candidate in the
His award-winning book Challenge to Apollo: History Department at Carnegie Mellon
The Soviet Union and the Space Race, University.
1945-1974 (NASA SP-2000-4408) was pub-
lished in 2000. An earlier book of poems,

............. Aboit!he Autho r -

. De;_p
_poceChron!de ....
 H_

_ L L

• LL

....._._._'_ _ ._r ¸_
 ...... The NASA History Series
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AbleIVB, 23, 26 trometer, 165

Able VA, 26 Ariel, Uranus moon, 120

Able VB, 27 ARGUS, imaging system, 165

accelerometer, 104, 109, 110, 129, 130 Aristarchus, crater, 58

ACP, aerosol collector/pyrolyser, 170 Armstrong, Neil, 78

Advanced Composition Explorer, ACE, 169 Asiasat 1, 170

Agena, B, D, 31, 32, 44, 47, 66 Asiasat 3, 171

Air Force, U.S., Test and Training Range, 17, ASPERA, energy mass experiment, 164
178 Atlantis, Space Shuttle, 143,145, 149
Aldebaran, Taurus constellation, 97 Atlas, 24, 47

Aldrin, Buzz, 78 Atlas-Able, 26, 27

ALPHA, alpha/proton spectrometer, 165 Atlas-Agena B, 33, 34, 41, 47, 48, 58
alpha-scattering instrument, 67, 69 Atlas-Agena D, 58, 61, 63
Alphonsus, crater, 48 Atlas-Centaur, 47, 61, 67, 69, 75, 76, 88, 93,
Amalthea, Jupiter moon, 117, 121,147 94, 105, 123

Ames Research Center, NASA ARC, 102 atomic hydrogen detector, 40, 41

aneroid barometer, 64, 65, 73, 74, 82, 87, 104, Austria, 133
109, 110, 126 Automatic Interplanetary Station, AMS, 23
ANGSTREM, x-ray spectrometer, 165

Apollo, 4, 55, 56, 58, 61, 66, 71,101 Bean, Alan L., 62, 63
Apollo 8, 74 Bulgaria, 133
Apollo 11, 61, 78

Apollo 12, 61, 62, 63, 83 Callisto, Jupiter moon, 97, 117, 121,146, 147
Apollo 15, 90 Cape Canaveral, Florida, 7, 55

Apollo 16, 98 Cassini-Huygens, 169, 9, 169, 170

Apollo 17, 102 CDS, coronal diagnostic spectrometer, 159
CELIAS,charge,element]isotope
analysis 74, 76, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 84, 85, 86, 90, 93,

experiment,
159 96, 97, 98, 102, 104, 106, 108, 109, 110,
112, 113, 116, 119, 122, 123, 124, 134,
Centaur,
54,63,85 137, 146, 147, 155, 157, 161, 162, 165,
Centaur-Surveyor,
54 169, 170, 174, 178
Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Eastman-Kodak, 56
Space Race, 1945-1974, 9
EIT, extreme ultraviolet imaging telescope,
charged-particle traps, detector, 29, 40, 41, 159
45, 54, 64, 94, 98, 102,123
electric field detector, 68, 79
Cherenkov Effect, 19
ELISMA, wave complex experiment, 164
Chryse Planitia, 111
Enceladus, Saturn moon, 117,170
CIDA, cometary and interstellar dust ana-
EPAM, electron, proton, and alpha particle
lyzer, 178
monitor, 169
Clementine, 103, 116, 155, 157, 173
ER, electron reflectometer, 173
Comet Borrelly, 176
ERNE, energetic-particle analyzer, 159
Comet Wild-2, 178
Eros, 8, 161,163
Control Computer and Sequencer, CC&S, 76
Europa, Jupiter moon, 8, 97, 117, 121, 146,
Conrad, Charles, Jr., 62, 63 147

Copernicus, crater, 57, 58 European Space Agency, ESA, 124, 138, 149,
cosmic dust detector, 43, 44, 68, 79, 103, 138, 150, 151,157, 160, 170
149, 174 EVRIS, stellar oscillations photometer, 164
cosmic radio emission receivers, 51 Explorer 33, 56, 66
cosmic-ray-anisotropy detector, 52, 68, 71, 79, Explorer 35, 65, 90
81, 82, 85, 87, 91, 97, 102, 104, 107, 108,
Explorer 49, 103
115, 117,129, 130, 131

cosmic-ray gas-discharge counters, 50, 53, 54,

65 Faraday-cup plasma probe, 56, 65

cosmic-ray telescope, 43, 44, 52, 68, 79, 94, Federal Aviation Administration, FAA, 52
120 Fobos 1,141,142
Cosmic Rocket, Luna 1, 21, 22 Fobos 2, 141,142
CRIS, cosmic-ray isotope spectrometer, 169 FONEMA, omni non-scanning energy-mass
Czechoslovakia, 133, 157 ion analyzer, 164

Deep Space Program Science Experiment, Galileo, 7, 8, 9, 145, 146, 147,156, 170

DSPSE, 155 Galileo Europa Mission, GEM, 146

Deep Space 1, 174 Ganymede, Jupiter moon, 8, 97, 117,121,146,
147
Deep Space 2, 177

Delta 2, 169 gas-analyzer cartridges, 64, 65, 73, 97,102

Department of Defense, DOD, 155 gas chromatograph, 129, 130

DesCam, descent phase camera, 165 Gaspra, 8

Dione, Saturn moon, 122, 170 GCMS, gas chromatograph neutral mass
spectrometer, 170
DWE, Doppler wind experiment, 170
Geiger-Mueller tube, photon, counter, 25, 50,
DPI, three component aceelerometer, 165
51, 65, 94, 102
DYMIO, omni ionosphere energy mass spec-
Germany, Federal Republic, West, 133, 149,
trometer, 164
174

Giacobini-Zinner, comet, 125, 138, 139

Earth, 8, 13, 18, 19, 21, 23, 25, 26, 27, 29, 30,
Giotto, comet, 137, 138
35, 36, 39, 40, 42, 43, 44, 48, 49, 50, 51, 54,
55, 56, 58, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 70, 73,

_. Deep-Space Chrontc
le"' __
Goddard SpaceFlightCenter, NASAGSFC, ISA,energetic ionsexperiment,
174
124 ISS,imagingsystem, 170
GOLF, globaloscillations
at lowfrequencies
experiment,159
Japan,149,157,174
GrandTour,6,7,120
JetPropulsion LaboratorE
JPL,4,5,34,36,
Grigg-Skjellerup,
comet, 138 43,144,163,169
GRUNT, accelerometers,
165 Jupiten3,7,8,9,13,93,95,97,102,103,117,
120,121,122,145,146,147,150,156,170
Hagomoro, 149
Halley'sComet,57,125,130,133,134,135, Kamerton seismometer,165
137,138 Kennedy Space Center,
JohnF.,NASAKSC,
HASI, Huygens atmosphericstructure 5
instrument,170 Kepler,
crater,50
Helios1,108,115 Kohoutek,Comet52
Helios2,115 Kosmos, 159,13,51,54
Helios-B,115 Kosmos 300,79,80
Hiten,Muses-A, 149 Kosmos 305,80
Hughes AircraftCompany, 67 Kosmos 359,82
Hughes GlobalSystems, 171 Kosmos 419,86
Hyperion, Saturnmoon,117,170 Kosmos 482,98

Iapetus,117,170 LASCO,white light/spectrometric

corono-
IMAP-6,magnetometer, 165 graph,159
InertialUpperStage, IUS,143,145 Lavochkin,
design
bureau,53,64,76,77,87
infraredcamera, 17,155 LIDAR,lightdetectionandranginginstru-
infraredradiometer, 57,58,76,86,88,103, ment,177
107,110,153,176 LILAS-2,cosmicand solargamma-burst
infraredspectrometer, 131 spectrometer,
164
infraredthermalmapper, 110 Luna,14,
Luna 3,23,24
InstituteofMicrobiology, NationalAcademy
ofSciences, 34 Luna 5,49

Institute of Space and Astronautical Luna 6,49

Sciences,ISAS,137,138 Luna 7,50
Inter-Agency Solar-TerrestrialPhysics Luna 8,52
Program, IASTP, Wind,157
Luna 9,53
windspeed recorder,98
Luna 10,54
InternationalCometary Explorer,
ICE,125
Luna 11,57
InternationalSolarPolarMission, ISPM,150
Luna 12,58
InternationalSun-EarthExplorers,ISEE,
124 Luna 13,59

Luna 14,70
InterplanetaryMonitoringPlatform,IMP,
108 Luna 15,78

Intrepid,62,63 Luna 16,82,83,90,93,108

Io,Jupitermoon,117,121,146, 147 Luna 17,83,84

ionizationchamber, traps,thrusters,
densito- Luna 18,90,93
meter,21,25,43,44,49,50,51,54,64,73, Luna 19,91
74,109,110

_ - - - Deep Space Chronicle

Luna 20, 93 Mars Global Surveyor, MGS, 6, 47, 50, 111,
163, 164, 167, 176, 177, 178
Luna 21,101,107
Mars Observer, 153, 164
Luna 22,107
Mars Pathfinder, Sagan Memorial Station, 6,
Luna 23, 108, 113, 116
165, 166, 167, 178
Luna 24, 116
Mars Polar Landel. MPL, 176
Lunar Module, LM, 62
Maxwell Montes, Venus, 123, 147
Lunar Orbiter, 4
MDI, Michelson Doppler imager, 159
Lunar Prospector, 173, 178
MECOM, meteorological unit, 165
Lunokhod 1, 83, 84, 91,101
Mercury, 13, 96, 106
Lunokhod 2, 101,102, 107
MET, meteorology package, 177
LWR, longwave radar, 165
meteoroid detectors, 49, 57, 58, 61, 91, 94,
102, 104, 107
MAG, magnetometer, 17, 21, 25, 29, 40, 41, 43, Metis, Jupiter moon. 121
44.45, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 56, 57, 58, 63,
MIC, visible camera, 174
64, 65, 66, 71, 86, 87, 91, 93, 98, 101, 102,
103, 104, 105, 107, 109, 115, 117, 123, Milky Way, 7,169
126, 129, 130, 133. 137, 138, 145, 153, micrometeoroid detector, spectrometer, 17,
157, 161,169, 173,174 25, 56, 57, 58, 61, 63, 65, 66
Magellan, 4, 5, 143, 144, 145,147 Mimas, Saturn moon, 122, 170
MAK, quadruple mass spectrometer, 165 Miranda, Uranus moon, 120
MARCI, Mars color imaging system, 176 MIS, meteorology instrument system, 165
Mare Crisium, crater, 78, 108, 115 Moon, 5, 13, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 26, 27, 33,
Mare Serenitatis, crater, 23, 101 34, 36, 40, 41, 42, 43, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 55,
58, 62, 63, 65, 66, 69, 70, 71, 75, 76, 78, 79,
Mare Sirenum, crater, 88
81, 83, 84, 90, 91, 93, 98, 101, 102, 103,
Mariner 1, 4, 35 106, 108, 113, 116, 122, 149, 157. 171
Mariner 2, 4, 25, 35 MORION-S, science data acquisition instru-
Mariner 3, 44 ment, 165

Mariner 4, 5, 34, 44, 64 MSI, multispectral imager, 161

Mariner 5, 45, 64, 65 Muses-A, Hiten, 149

Mariner 6, 76, 77, 89 MVACS, Mars volatile and climate surveyor,

177
Mariner 7.76, 89

Mariner 8, 88
National Academy of Sciences. NAS, 147
Mariner 9, 5, 88, 89, 90, 104
National Aeronautics and Space
Mariner 10, 96, 106
Administration, NASA, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8,
Mariner 71H, Mariner H, 85, 86 14, 18, 26, 27, 34, 35, 44, 45, 55, 61, 64,
Mariner R, 34, 35 65, 67, 68, 94, 97,102, 103, 108, 111,
116, 122, 125, 129, 137, 143, 144, 145,
MARIPROB, ionosphere plasma spectrom-
146, 151,156, 157, 159, 160, 163, 164,
eter, 164
167, 169, 170, 174, 176, 177, 178,
Marius, crater, 53
National Research Council, NRC, NAS, 147
Mars, U.S.S.R., 2, 9, 14, 86, 87, 88, 91, 103,
NavCam, navigation camera, 178
104, 105
Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous, NEAR,
Mars, Red Planet, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, 13, 34, 26, 27,
NEAR-Shoemaker, 8, 161,162, 163, 178
36. 37, 40, 44, 45, 49, 50, 51, 75, 76, 77, 85,
86, 87, 88, 89, 93,103, 104, 105, 111,112, nephelometer, 109, 126, 129, 130, 134, 145
141, 142, 153, 164, 165, 166, 174, 176, Neptune, 7, 9, 13, 97, 102,119, 120
177, 178
neutral mass spectrometer, 138, 170, 174
Mars Climate Orbiter, MCO, 176
NEUTRON-S, neutron spectrometer, 165, 173
Mars descent imager, MARDI, 177
 NIS, nearinfraredmappingspectrometer, radioaltimeter,64,73,74,91,93,97,104,
145,161 107,109,113,115,153,155
NixOlympia, 5,89 radiopropagation detector,79
NLR,laserrangefinder,161 radiotelescope, 40,41,45,49,75,86,87,103
Nozomi, 174 radioisotopethermoelectricgenerators,
RTGs,121
Ocean ofStorms, 55,61,62 radiometer, 76,77,87,102,123
Oceanus Procellarum,63 RADIUS-MD, dosimeter, 164
Olympus Mons,5,88,90 Ranger, BlockII, 4,30,33,34,36,43,48
OFFIMIZM, seismometer/magnetometer/ Ranger 1,31,32
inclinometer,165 Ranger 2,31,32
Ranger 4,34
PanCam, panoramic camera, 165 Ranger 5,36
PEGAS, gamma-ray spectrometer,
165 Ranger 6,41
penetrometer,58,83,87,101 Ranger 7,43,47,48
PFS,infraredFourierspectrometer,165 Ranger 8,47,48
Phoebe,Saturnmoon,117 Ranger 9,48
Phobos,77,141 Reiner, crater,53
photoelectric
cellaspect
indicator,
25,73,74 resistance thermometer, 64,73,74,81,82,97,
photo-emulsioncamera,71 104,105,109,110
PHOTON, gamma spectrometer,
165 Rhea,Saturnmoon,122,170
piezoelectric 21,40,41,45,50,51,54 roboticarm,RA,177
detector,
Pioneer0,14,150 roboticarmcamera, RAC,177
Pioneer 3,19 RTSW, real-timesolarwindexperiment, 169
Pioneer 4,22 Russia, SovietUnion,3,4,5,13,14,17,19,21,
23, 24,25,34,36,37,39,40,41,42,43,45,
Pioneer 5,25 48,49,64,65,68,71,78,82,83,86,90,93,
Pioneer6,52,57,68 98,105,109,110,113,129,133,137,142,
Pioneer 7,52,57,68 149,157
Pioneer8,52,57,68
Pioneer9,52,71,95 Sagan, Carl,167
Pioneer 10,7,94,95,97,102,108,120 Sakigake, 137
Pioneer 11,7,102,108,120 Sample ReturnCapsule, SRC,178
PioneerVenus 1,4,18,123,124,131,144 Saturn, 7 ,8,9,13, 9 7,102,
117,120, 122,170
PioneerVenus2,4,124 scintillationcounter, 21
plasmaanalyzer, 52,56,68,71,94,105,108, Sea ofFertility, c rater,90
115,123,124,125,133,137,138, 145,157 SeaofRains,crater,58,84
Pluto,6,7,13 SeaofTranquillity, 47,61
proportionalcounter,
25 Searchfor ExtraterrestrialIntelligence,
Pwyll,crater,146 SETI,71
seismometer, single-axis, 33,130
radiationdensitometer,
59,87 SEPICA, solarenergetic particleioniccharge
analyzm. 169
radiationdetector,39,40,41,43,44,45,48,
49,50,51,53,56(dosimeters),57,58,59, Shoemaker, Eugene, 163,173
61,63,64,66,71,75,76,77,79,80,81,83, SIS,solarisotope spectrometer,16
91,93,101,107,115 SLED-2,low-energy chargedparticlespec-
trometer, 164
Sojourner,
6,9,166,167 thermal and evolved gas analyzer, TEGA, 177

SolarandHeliospehricObservatory,
SOHO, Thor-Able, 19
159,160 Thor-Able 1, 17, 18,
solarplasmaprobe,
64 Thor-Delta E, 52, 56, 65, 66, 68, 71
Solar System Log, 9, 14 Thor-Delta L, 79
solar wind detector, 81, 83, 97, 129, 131,137 Titan, Saturn moon, 8, 117, 122, 170
Solid State Imaging, 33, 39, 44, 45, 47, 48, 49, Titania, Uranus moon, 120
50, 51, 53, 55, 56, 57, 58, 61, 65, 66, 67, 69,
Transfer Orbit Stage, TOS, 153
71, 75, 76, 79, 83, 85, 86, 87, 91, 93, 101,
102, 103, 107, 109, 110, 113, 115, 117, Transvaal, South Africa, 26
120, 129, 130, 134, 145, 153 Triton, 7,120

Soyuz, 98 Tycho, crater, 69

Space Shuttle, 8, 143, 145,150

Space Technology Laboratories, 24 ULEIS, ultra-low-energy isotope spectrometer,

SPICAM, multichannel spectrometer, 165 169

Sputnik, 13, 18 ultraviolet and infrared spectrophotometer,

49, 64, 65, 75, 86, 87, 103, 129, 130
SSP, surface science package, 170
ultraviolet photometer, 85, 94, 101, 102, 103,
Stardust, 178
ll0, 138, 155
stereo surface imager, SSI, 77, 78, 79, 80, 177
ultraviolet spectrograph, spectrometer, 49,
SUMER, solar-ultraviolet emitted radiation 76, 77, 85, 88, 91, 97, 101_ 104, 109, 117,
experiment, 159 120, 124, 125,133, 134, 145, 153, 174
Sun, 6, 7, 8, 13, 21, 36, 53, 68, 103, 106, 108, Ulysses, 150, 151
115,122, 147,150, 151,156,159, 164, 169
Umbriel, Uranus moon, 120
Surveyor 2, 57, 70
United States, U.S., 3, 4, 6, 14, 33, 34, 43, 115,
Surveyor 3, 61, 62, 63, 65, 69 137, 143, 155, 157
Surveyor, 4, 13, 54, 55, 65 Uranus, 7, 9, 13,119, 120, 122
Surveyor 5, 67, 69 UVCS, ultraviolet coronograph spectrometer,
Surveyor 6, 68, 69 159

Surveyor 7, 69 UVS-M, ultraviolet spectrometer, 165

Susei, 138

SVET, mapping spectrometer, 165 Valles Marineris, 5

SWAN, solar wind anisotropies experiment, Van Allen, 18

159 variometer, 29
Sweden, 174 Vega, 133
SWEPAM, solar wind electron, proton, and Vega 1,134, 135, 138
alpha monitor, 169
Vega 2, 134, 135, 138
SWICS, solar wind ion composition spectrom-
Venera, 14, 39, 50, 51, 64, 65, 131,135
eter, 169
Venera 4, 74, 81
SWIMS, solar wind ion mass spectrometer,
169 Venera 5, 74, 81

synthetic aperture radar, SAR, 143, Venera 6, 74, 81

Venera 7, 81, 91, 97

Taurus, 97 Venera 8, 91, 97, 98

Taurus Mountains, 101 Venera 9, 109, 110, 126

temperature sensors, 17 Venera 10, 110, 126

TERMOSCAN, mapping radiometer, 165 Venera 11,126, 127, 130

Tethys, Saturn moon, 117, 122, 170 Venera 12, 126, 130

Thebe, Jupiter moon, 121 Venera 13, 129, 130

Venera14,129
Venera15,131
Venera16,131
Venus,3,4,5,8,24,25,29,34,35,40,42,43,
45,50,51,64,73,74,81,82,97,98,106,
109,123,124,125,126,129,130,131,
132,133,
134,143,144,145,147,147,
170
Viking1,5,85,103,111,112
Viking2,5,85,103,111
VikingA,111
Viking B, 111

VIMS, visual infrared mapping spectrometer,

170

VIRGO, variability of solar irradiance experi-

ment, 159

Voyager, 7, 118, 147

Voyager Interstellar Mission, VIM, 120, 122

Voyager 1, 7, 97, 102, 117, 121, 122, 150

Voyager 2, 7, 102, 117, 119, 120, 121,150

Webb, crater, 82

Weiler, Edward, 6

Wilson, Andrew, 9, 14

Wilson-Harrington Comet, 176

XRS-GRS, x-ray/gamma-ray spectrometer,

33, 53, 54, 57, 75, 77, 83, 87, 103, 109,
110, 133,134, 153, 161

Ye-1, 22

Ye-IA, 22

Ye-2A, 25

Ye-6, 39, 40, 41, 48, 49, 50, 53, 54, 69, 107

Ye-8, 74, 75, 77, 78, 81, 90, 91, 93, 101, 107,
115

Zond, 14, 42, 70, 78, 98

Zond 1, 43

Zond 2, 45

Zond 3, 49, 57

Zond 6, 71, 72

Zond 7, 79

Zond 8, 83
-- Deep _poce Cl_ron!cl_-- _.
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ChrOndgy
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