UMSF space history photo of the month Options

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Maybe we could make this a monthly item, in which we could look back at the history of Unmanned Space missions.
For January 2008 I've chosen an image showing the coverage of the Sun by early Pioneer 5-8 spacecraft.
Pioneer 5 to 8, or Pioneer V to VIII using the system of Roman numerals in vogue during the early 1960s for spacecraft designations, were directed towards the Sun along the earth's orbit to monitor solar activity. Pioneer V was launched on 11th March 1960 and provided the very first space weather report 4 to 8 hours before a solar storm hit the Earth.
Some of this Pioneer quartet, Pioneer 6-7-8 even provided updates on our Sun's activity during the early Apollo Moon landings in order to check the damaging potential of solar flares to affect the astronauts.

[Guest_PhilCo126_*]

Photo for April 2008: Mariner IV flyby of Mars:
In November 1964, NASA had 2 Mariner spacecraft ready for a Mars flyby mission. However, the shroud (fairing) on the Mariner III launch vehicle failed and engineers had to rework the Atlas-Agena shroud urgently in order to launch Mariner IV within the Mars-window. The 260 kg Mariner IV was launched on 28th November 1964 and flew by Mars in July 1965, beaming 22 b&w photos back to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
In October 1967, Mariner IV was used for attitude-control tests in support of Mariner V, its twin spacecraft which was modified for a Venus flyby (closest October 1967). Final communications with Mariner IV took place on 21st December 1967…