On this day - 14 December
Historical items of interest as featured in the papers of the day.
Mariner 2 scans Venus
The Mariner program was run by NASA and was aiming to explore the inner solar system and the planned goals included visits and further investigation of Mercury, Mars and Venus. Mariner 1 was unsuccessful, and had to be destroyed around 5 minutes after it took off. Despite being a copy of Mariner 1, Mariner 2 was successful.
On December 14th 1962 Mariner 2 completed infrared and microwave scans as it flew past Venus. It was also the first spacecraft to measure both solar wind and solar dust.
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