Encounters at a variety of far points

No wordy blog post tonight – did that last night. But I thought I’d share with you a few gems I found on Youtube: the live coverage of past planetary encounters. I hope you enjoy this stuff like I do.

Neptune (first explored by Voyager 2, 1989)

Uranus (first explored by Voyager 2, 1986)

Saturn (first explored by Pioneer 11, 1979)

Jupiter (first explored by Pioneer 10, 1973)

Mars (early Mariner flybys, late 1960s)

Mars (first successful landing by Viking 1, 1976)

Venus (NASA film about the Pioneer Venus missions, 1978)

(If I could’ve included coverage of Russia’s Venera missions, which actually landed, I would’ve done so; I couldn’t find any kind of contemporary news coverage.)

Mercury (first explored by Mariner 10, 1974)

This is the excitement that awaits us… at least one more time. And as I write this, that time is a little over eight hours away.