Country of Origin: United States of America
Dimensions:
Approximate: 11 13/16in. x 5 11/16in. x 1ft 10 3/16in. (0.3m x 0.144m x 0.564m)
Materials:
Plastic and wood.
The Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two spacecraft, an orbiter and a multiprobe that entered the Venusian atmosphere, each of them launched separately. This is a model of the Pioneer Venus orbiter, which studied the planet for more than a decade following its arrival in 1978. The Pioneer Venus orbiter carried a radar altimeter, which was used to make the first global map of the surface elevations. Its main antenna was used to produce moderate-resolution radar images of the equatorial region.
Transferred from NASA to the Museum in 1982.
Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
