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History of Exploration
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Marsnik
The Soviet Union tried to launch Marsnik 1 and Marsnik 2 a few days later in 1960. They were intended to complete a flyby on Mars but both of these attempts failed. Marsnik 1 and 2 were exactly identicle to each other. -
Sputnik 7
This was the first probe attempt to send to Venus. After orbiting Earth once it was supposed to launch towards Venus and land. The space craft was successfully launched into Earth's orbit but the ignition failed and the probe never made it to Venus. -
Venera 1
This was the second atempt to send a probe to Venus fo the Soviets. The craft consisted of two solar panels connected to a cylender spanning about two meters. Though it successfully launched gathered data on plasma and solar wind contact was lost and the misssion failed. -
Mariner 2
This space craft was created and launched by the U.S.This was the first successful mission to send a probe to Venus. After the launch failer of Mariner 1 one month later 2 was sent and recovered data of Venus's atmosphere and surface temperature. -
Mars 6
Mars 4, 5, 6, and 7 were created by the Soviets. 6 consisted of a flyby bus and descent moduole. Mars 6 was the first spacecraft to come in contact with the surface of Mars but contact was lost and the mission failed. -
Viking 1
Viking 1 and 2 were the first successful rover missions to Mars. Created by the U.S. they both consisted of an orbiter and a lander.The lander sent the first color picture of Mars to Earth and analyzed the soil of Mars. -
Voyager 2
Voyager 1 and 2 were sent to flyby Jupiter and Saturn and discovered volcanoes on Jupiters moon Lo and the intricate rings around Saturn. 2 was then sent to explore Uranus and Neptune afterwards and then even flying to the Kuiper belt. Voyager 2 is still transmitting data back to Earth. -
Galileo
The space craft Galileo was a U.S. craft that did fly by studies on Venus, Earth, and Jupiter. Its main mission was to study Jupiter's atmosphere. Other then Jupiter's atmosphere, Galileo found volcanoes on some of Jupiters moons. -
Mars Pathfinder
This mission included a lander and a rover to demonstrate the low cost ability of exploring another planet and to explore the martian surface. The rover studied the atmosphere and took pictures. Before landing it bounced 15 times after using rockets and parachhutes to land. -
Cassini
This was a spacecraft that probed one of Saturns satalites Titan. After it probed Titan it did detailed observations of the planet and its rings. -
Spirit
Both Spirit and Opportunity were launched in mid 2003 to search for the possibility of life ever appeared on Mars. The rovers studied the surface of Mars. Also, it studied the possibility of irin composition in the surface of Mars. -
Opportunity
Opportunity ans Spirit were launched to investigate Mars and cover 100 meters in a day. They were only supposed to last 90 days but the battery actually lasted well beyond 90 days. Along with spirit it also studied the marsian surface. -
Messenger
This mission was a designed Mercury orbiter that studied the composition of Mercury's surface. It also studied the history of the planet. It performed these searches from Mercuries orbit. -
New Horizons
This space craft was designed to perform a fly by of Pluto and its only moon Charon sending pictures and data back to Earth. After this is completed it will take information of the Kuiper Belt as well. It will not get to Pluto until 2015. -
Juno
This Space craft will study Jupiter from a polar view for a year. It will study the history of Jupiter's atmosphere as wel. It wil study Jupiter from 2016-17.
