The Week in Space

Reach Out and Touch a Planet  Forty-five years ago this week, the Soviet Venera 3 spacecraft crashed into Venus, making it the first human-made object to impact another planet. Though only a partial success, Venera 3 paved the way for Venera 4, which transmitted data for ninety-four minutes during its descent through the hellish atmosphere of Venus. Veneras 7 through 14 landed on Venus between 1970 and 1981, several of them returning pictures from the surface. The American Magellan spacecraft began orbiting Venus in 1990, mapping its surface with a radar imager that penetrated the planet’s thick cloud cover. This global map of Venus based on Magellan data is centered on the eastern hemisphere. Venera 3’s approximate impact site is on the left side of the lower third of the image.

Image credit: NASA / JPL / USGS

Weekly Calendar

February 28 - March 6, 2011

Holidays - Sky Events - Space History

Monday 28

Venus 1.6° south of Moon

1959: Discoverer 1 launched
1966: Gemini IX primary crew, Bassett & See, killed in plane crash
1990: STS-36 Atlantis launched
2007: New Horizons spacecraft flies past Jupiter en route to Pluto

Tuesday 1

1927: George Abell born
1966: Venera 3 impacts on Venus
1982: Venera 13 returns first color photos from the surface of Venus
2002: STS-109 Columbia launched

Wednesday 2

Thursday 3

1959: Pioneer 4 launched
1969: Apollo 9 launched

Friday 4

New Moon 3:46 PM ET

Saturday 5

Sunday 6

Moon at apogee

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