25 Years Ago This Month; Two Ships Reach Venus

In December of 1978, two US spacecraft from the Pioneer series of missions reached Venus. One dropped four probes into the atmosphere, while the other mapped the surface.

The Orbiter, Pioneer 12, was launched on 20 May 1978 on an Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle. On 4 December 1978, the orbiter was injected into a highly elliptical orbit around Venus. On 8 August 1978, slightly less than three months after the Orbiter left Earth, the Multiprobe spacecraft, Pioneer 13, was launched from the Kennedy Space Center on an Atlas-Centaur launch vehicle. On 16 November 1978, the Large Probe was released from the Bus toward an entry near the equator on the day side of Venus. Four days later, on 20 November 1978, the three Small Probes were released from the bus.