December 14: Mariner 2 flew by Venus (1962)

Mariner 2

Mariner 2, an American space probe to Venus, made the first space probe to successfully encounter a planet. Mariner 2 flew by Venus, which is the nearest planet from earth, on December 14, 1962 and scanned the planet with its dual radiometers and sent the collected information back to NASA. It was the first planetary data collection from a man-made spacecraft through a physical encounter with the planet. Mariner 2 also measured the solar wind and interplanetary dust on its way to Venus. Since its launch on August 27, 1962, Mariner 2 traveled for 109 days and then passed Venus at its closest distance of 35,000km. On December 27, 1962, spacecraft perihelion occurred at 105,464,560km and the last transmission was received from Mariner 2 on January 3, 1963. It was almost 50 years ago. It seems we were more adventurous and more audacious than we now are.