Mariner 2

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Q208984




Mariner 2, an American space probe to Venus, was the first robotic space probe to report successfully from a planetary encounter. The first successful spacecraft in the NASA Mariner program, it was a simplified version of the Block I spacecraft of the Ranger program and an exact copy of Mariner 1. The missions of the Mariner 1 and 2 spacecraft are sometimes known as the Mariner R missions. Original plans called for the probes to be launched on the Atlas-Centaur, but serious developmental problems with that vehicle forced a switch to the much smaller Agena B second stage. As such, the design of the Mariner R vehicles was greatly simplified. Far less instrumentation was carried than on the Soviet Venera probes of this period—for example, forgoing a TV camera—as the Atlas-Agena B had only half as much lift capacity as the Soviet 8K78 booster. The Mariner 2 spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral on August 27, 1962, and passed as close as 34,773 km (21,607 mi) to Venus on December 14, 1962.

1962  WikimediaWikidata
Mariner II; Mariner-Venus 1962
artificial satellite of the Sunflyby probeAtlas-Agena B


Location: KML, Cluster Map, Maps,

    1962-08-27T00:00:00Z
    1962-08-27T00:00:00Z
    1962 Mariner 2
    1963-01-03T00:00:00Z
    1963-01-03T00:00:00Z
    loss of signal
    1962-12-14T00:00:00Z
    1962-12-14T00:00:00Z
    planetary flyby
    1962-08-27T00:00:00Z
    1962-08-27T00:00:00Z
    rocket launch
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    Model of Mariner 2 spacecraft (GRC-1964-C-70182)Model of Mariner 2 spacecraft (GRC-1964-C-70182)
    Artist depiction of Mariner 2Artist depiction of Mariner 2
    Photo Goldstone Observatory- a coded message from the space probe Mariner II 1963 - Touring Club Italiano 07 0240Photo Goldstone Observatory- a coded message from the space probe Mariner II 1963 - Touring Club Italiano 07 0240
    Mariner 2 illustrationMariner 2 illustration
    Artist depiction of Mariner 2Artist depiction of Mariner 2
    Mariner 2 inspection 2Mariner 2 inspection 2
    Mariner 2 inspectionMariner 2 inspection
    Mariner 2 in Hangar AEMariner 2 in Hangar AE
    Block diagram of central computer and sequencerBlock diagram of central computer and sequencer
    Telemetry-data flow chartTelemetry-data flow chart