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Mission record

Pioneer Venus 1

Also known as Pioneer Venus Orbiter, PVO, Pioneer 12, Pioneer Venus 1978 Orbiter, PioneerVenusOrbiter

NASA-Office of Space Science Applications · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

The first of a two-spacecraft orbiter-probe combination designed to conduct a comprehensive investigation of the atmosphere, surface and near-space environment of Venus. It entered Venus orbit on 4 December 1978 and measured the structure of the upper atmosphere and ionosphere, investigated the interaction of the solar wind with the ionosphere and the magnetic field, determined the characteristics of the atmosphere and surface on a planetary scale, determined the planet's gravitational field harmonics from perturbations of its own orbit, and detected gamma-ray bursts. In May 1992 it began the final phase of its mission, holding periapsis low until the fuel ran out; the last transmission was received on 8 October 1992 as the orbit was decaying.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Atlas-Centaur
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on an Atlas-Centaur from Cape Canaveral

    The launch/orbital information page prints 1978-05-20T13:13:00Z, recorded at minute precision because it prints a whole minute with zero seconds, and the master catalog gives the same time, 13:13:00 UT.

    Earth

  2. Milestone

    Trajectory correction

    NSSDCA and PDS mission history identify this maneuver date; no exact clock or vector.

    Sun

  3. Milestone

    Trajectory correction

    NSSDCA and PDS mission history identify this maneuver date; no exact clock or vector.

    Sun

  4. Orbit insertion

    Entered Venus orbit

    The master catalog records that it reached Venus and went into orbit on 4 December 1978 at 15:58 UT, an initial orbit with a periapsis altitude of 378.7 km, a period of 23.2 hours and an inclination of 105 degrees. The launch/orbital information page's Venus orbiter row has an epoch start of 1979-11-22 16:53:20, nearly a year later, and describes the nominal orbit rather than the insertion.

    Venus

  5. Milestone

    Final phase begins; periapsis held between 150 and 250 km

    The master catalog records that in May 1992 Pioneer Venus began the final phase of its mission, in which the periapsis was held between 150 and 250 km until the fuel ran out and atmospheric entry destroyed the spacecraft. Recorded at month precision because the page prints only the month and year.

    Venus

  6. Mission end

    Last transmission received; NSSDCA decay date 1992-10-08

    Last transmission received19:22UT onOct8 as the orbit decayed. Atmospheric destruction followed; the last signal is not a measured impact instant.

    Venus

  7. Milestone

    Two small trajectory correction maneuvers on a Type II trajectory

    The master catalog records that it traveled to Venus on a Type II trajectory with two small trajectory correction maneuvers on June 1 and November 2. Carried without a timestamp because the sentence that prints those days prints no year.

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Pioneer Venus Orbiter · Orbiter

    Destinations: Venus

Trajectory record

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: December 9, 1978 to June 1, 1988

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • Pioneer Venus 1: Reconstructed · December 9, 1978 to June 1, 1988

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through October 11, 2026