112k GIF Smithsonian Institution photograph #80-4980 by D. Penland	Milestone: First Spacecraft to Study Another Planet
	Date of Milestone: December 14, 1962
	Spacecraft: Mariner 2
	Mission Operated by: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
	Spacecraft Location: Smithsonian Institution, National Air and Space Museum, Milestones of Flight Gallery

On December 14, 1962, useful scientific information was radioed to Earth from the vicinity of another planet for the first time. The unmanned Mariner 2 spacecraft, with its six scientific instruments, passed within 34,800 kilometers (21,600 miles) of Venus. Mariner 2 indicated that Venus is very hot and has no measureable magnetic fields or radiation belts. On the way to Venus, Mariner 2's instruments detected and measured the radiation, magnetic fields and dust of interplanetary space.

Contact with Mariner 2 was lost on January 2, 1963; it is now in orbit around the Sun. The spacecraft on display was constructed from test components by engineers from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Design Features:

More Information:
Mariner 2 - Space History Artifact Collection