December 15, 1970: The 1st Probe to Land on the Planet Venus

December 15, 1970: Venera 7 lands on the surface of the planet Venus, the closest planet to Earth. The Soviet probe is the 1st man-made object from Earth to land on the surface of any of the solar system's other planets.

The Soviet space program launched it from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on August 17, 1970. The lander was designed to be able to survive pressure of up to 18 megapascals (2,600 psi) and temperatures of 1,076° Fahrenheit. This was significantly greater than what was expected to be encountered, but significant uncertainties as to the surface temperatures and pressure of Venus resulted in the designers' opting for a large margin of error.

The probe appeared to go silent on impact, but recording tapes kept rolling. A few weeks later, upon a review of the tapes by the radio astronomer Oleg Rzhiga, another 23 minutes of very weak signals were found on them. The spacecraft had landed on Venus, and probably bounced onto its side, leaving the medium gain antenna aimed incorrectly for proper signal transmission to Earth.

The probe transmitted information to Earth for 53 minutes, which included about 20 minutes from the surface. It was found that the temperature at the surface of Venus was 475° Celsius. Using the temperature, and models of the atmosphere, a pressure of 9.0 MPa (1,300 psi) was calculated.

In those 53 minutes, the probe still managed to provide information about the surface of Venus, which could not be seen through a thick veil of atmosphere. The spacecraft confirmed that humans cannot survive on the surface of Venus. It excluded the possibility that there is any liquid water on the planet.

So Venera 7 didn't manage to do its job for long, but it did enough of its job to justify later Soviet missions. Venera 8 landed on March 27, 1972, and is considered the 1st fully successful landing of an Earth probe on another planet. It would be followed by Venera 9 and 10 in 1975, Venera 11 and 12 in 1978, Venera 13 and 14 in 1981, Venera 15 and 16 in 1983, and Vega 1 and 2 in 1984.

It would take until February 5, 1974, with the American probe Mariner 10, for the 1st close-up photographs of Venus to be sent back to Earth. Even more detailed photos were sent back by the American probe Pioneer Venus in 1979.

*

December 15, 1970 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 6 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 110-92 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Diego Rockets, 122-98 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.

* The Buffalo Braves beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 113-111 in overtime at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Baltimore Bullets, 115-97 at the Chicago Stadium. Bob Love scored 37 points.

* The San Francisco Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns, 129-123 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.

* And the Detroit Pistons beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 111-103 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Oregon.

There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The Memphis Pros beat the Texas Chaparrals, 146-141 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. And the Denver Rockets beat the Carolina Cougars, 126-116 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver.

And there were 2 games in the NHL. The St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota North Stars, 2-1 at the St. Louis Arena. And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.

September 29, 1918: Gustav Holst's "The Planets" Premieres

September 29, 1918: The Planets premieres at the Queen's Hall in London. Conducted by Adrian Boult, it is a series of 7 movements, designed to capture the spirit of the mythological inspiration of the 7 planets then known to be in the solar system, excluding, of course, Earth. (Pluto was not discovered until 1930.)

The composer was Gustav Holst. In spite of his German-sounding name, and World War I still going on, he was born and raised in England, in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, in the West Country. His ancestry was German and Swedish, and he marked the 4th generation of his family to be a classical musician. He was 44 years old at the time of the premiere of The Planets, which had worked on since 1914.

In an early sketch for the suite, Holst listed Mercury as "no. 1", which Greene suggests raises the possibility that the composer's first idea was simply to depict the planets in the obvious order, from nearest the sun to the farthest: Mercury, Venus, (Earth,) Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune.

But music historian Richard Greene wrote, "However, opening with the more disturbing character of Mars allows a more dramatic and compelling working out of the musical material." Especially since "The Great War" was still on, with no one yet knowing that the Armistice was coming in just 43 days. The movements are as follows, with the planets given names from Roman mythology:

1. Mars, the Bringer of War. In Greek mythology, the god of war is Ares. This movement usually runs about 7 minutes.

2. Venus, the Bringer of Peace. The Romans called the goddess of love Venus, while the Greeks called her Aphrodite. But in terms of the actual planets, Venus has a much more violent atmosphere than Mars. About 8 minutes.

3. Mercury, the Winged Messenger. Noted for his speed, the Greeks called the messenger of the gods Hermes. This is the shortest movement, usually coming in at under 4 minutes.

4. Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity. Alliteration aside, this title was a bad choice by Holst: If he wanted a joyful movement for his piece, he should have chosen a planet and god other than the king of the gods, known as Zeus to the Greeks, who is usually depicted as a vain and angry god, one very easily angered. He has been called "the goddiest god ever to god."

As perhaps the most complicated movement, depending on the recording, it has the most varied performance time, running anywhere from 7 to 8 minutes.

5. Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age. Saturn was the father of Jupiter, known by the Greeks as Chronus, from which we get words relating to time: Chronal, chronological, chronic. It also takes the most time of any of the movements, sometimes running over 9 minutes.

6. Uranus, the Magician. The one planet whose name is taken from the Greeks, in Roman mythology, he is Caelus, god of the sky, sometimes said to be the father of the titans, including Saturn, and thus a progenitor of the gods. It runs about 6 minutes.

7. Neptune, the Mystic. Another odd title: The god of the sea, known as Poseidon to the Greeks, is associated with power, but not, then as now, with magic. It runs about 7 minutes.

In 2000, the English composer Colin Matthews, seeking to complete the solar system, wrote a new movement, "Pluto, the the Renewer." Unfortunately, in 2006, Pluto was downgraded to a "dwarf planet."

Pluto is the god of the underworld, known as Hades to the Greeks. They called his realm Tartarus, although, somewhere down the line, the realm itself became known as Hades, and the overseer became identified with the Biblical Devil Lucifer/Satan, and his realm with Hell. But the mythologies do not always depict Hades/Pluto as evil. Dark, yes; evil, not always. The Pluto version is also the god of wealth, leading to a government dominated by rich people being called a plutocracy.

Holst died in 1934. Boult, eventually knighted, lived until 1983. Imogen Holst, Gustav's daughter and biographer, and a composer in her own right, died the next year. So, while all of them lived to know of the discovery of Pluto, none of them lived to see a tribute to it added to The Planets. Imogen was his only child, and had no children herself, so his direct line died with her.

Opened in 1893, the Queen's Hall, named for Queen Victoria, became the home of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the BBC Symphony Orchestra in the 1930s. The Nazis destroyed it during the Blitz in 1941. It was never rebuilt: Both orchestras moved into the Royal Albert Hall, and the London Philharmonic moved into the Royal Festival Hall in 1951.

*

September 29, 1918 was a Sunday. Professional basketball barely existed. Professional hockey did, but it was too early for the season to start. Professional football was, at this point, very minor-league. And the baseball season was cut short due to World War I, with the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series on September 11, beating the Chicago Cubs. So there were no scores on this historic day.

February 5, 1974: The 1st Close-Up Pictures of the Planet Venus

February 5, 1974: Mariner 10 takes the 1st close-up pictures of Venus, the 2nd planet from the Sun, and the closest planet to Earth. In just 52 more days, it will do the same for the planet Mercrury.

Mariner 10 was launched at Cape Canaveral on November 3, 1973, reached its closest approach to Venus on February 5, 1974, and made 3 flybys (flysby?) of Mercury: March 29 and September 21, 1974; and March 16, 1975.

The probe revealed that the surface of Mercury resembled that of Earth's Moon (Mercury has no moons), with no water and lots of craters. It also found a tenuous atmosphere consisting primarily of helium, as well as a magnetic field and a large iron-rich core.

During its flyby of Venus, Mariner 10 discovered evidence of rotating clouds and a very weak magnetic field. Using a near-ultraviolet filter, it photographed Venus's chevron clouds, and performed studies of the planet's sulfurous, broiling-hot atmopshere.

Mariner 10 stopped transmitting on March 24, 1975. It could have fallen into the Sun, but, most likely, is still orbiting the Sun, unable to transmit any data.

Previously, Mariner 1 had been launched on July 22, 1962, with the intention of reaching Venus, but it had a guidance failure shortly after launch, and was destroyed by a system activated from the ground. Mariner 2 made the 1st flyby of Venus on January 3, 1963, but it returned only data, not photographs. Mariner 5 flew by Venus on December 4, 1967, and it accomplished its mission: Not to return photographs, but to measure magnetic fields and various emissions of the Venusian atmosphere. The Soviets landed Venera 7 on Venus on December 15, 1970, but it only returned information, not photos.

Mariners 4, 6, 7 and 9 went to Mars. Mariners 3 and 8 were intended as such, but failed at launch. Mariner 10 was the last mission of the project.

*

February 5, 1974 was a Tuesday. Baseball and football were out of season. There were 7 games played in the NBA:

* The New York Knicks beat the Phoenix Suns, 106-90 at Madison Square Garden.

* The Atlanta Hawks beat the Capital Bullets, 121-103 at The Omni in Atlanta. In their 1st season after moving from Baltimore, the Bullets used the geographic identifier "Capital." For 1974-75, they became the Washington Bullets, until 1997-98, when they became the Washington Wizards.

* The Milwaukee Bucks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 102-87 at the Cleveland Arena. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had 33 points and 18 rebounds.

* The Chicago Bulls beat the Boston Celtics, 100-98 at the Chicago Stadium.

* The Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 116-112 in overtime at the Hofheinz Pavilion (now the Fertitta Center) in Houston. Rudy Tomjanovich scored 30 points for the Rockets, while Gail Goodrich scored 44 in defeat for the Lakers.

* The Golden State Warriors beat the Seattle SuperSonics, 129-113 at the Oakland Coliseum Arena.

* And the Detroit Pistons beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 104-102 at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.

There was 1 game in the American Basketball Association: The Denver Rockets beat the San Antonio Spurs, 82-79 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver. The following season, anticipating being let into the NBA, where there was already a Houston Rockets, the Denver team changed its name to the Denver Nuggets.

There were 2 games in the NHL. The New York Islanders beat the Minnesota North Stars, 6-2 at the Nassau Coliseum. And the Montreal Canadiens beat the St. Louis Blues, 3-2 at the St. Louis Arena. And there were 4 games in the World Hockey Association:

* The Jersey Knights lost to the Houston Aeros, 4-0 at the Sam Houston Coliseum in Houston.

* The Chicago Cougars beat the Winnipeg Jets, 3-1 at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago.

* The Minnesota Fighting Saints beat the Cleveland Crusaders, 4-1 at the St. Paul Civic Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.

* And the Vancouver Blazers beat the Edmonton Oilers, 8-0 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.