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Detailed look on Magellan The Magellan spacecraft was sent to Venus by the shuttle Atlantis from Kennedy space center in Florida on May 4,1989 . Atlantis took Magellan into low Earth orbit, where it was released from the shuttle's cargo bay and fired by a solid-fuel motor called the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) on its way to Venus. Magellan looped around the sun 11/2 times before arriving at Venus on August 10,1990 . A solid fuel motor on the spacecraft then fired, placing Magellan into a near polar elliptical orbit around Venus. Besides all the equipments that the usual spacecraft has, it carried sophisticated imaging radar, which was used to make the map of Venus. Magellan also made global maps of Venus's gravity field. The Magellan mission proceeded as follows: • 04 May, 1989 – Launch • 10 Aug, 1990 – Venus orbit insertion • 15 Sep, 1990 – Cycle 1: Radar Mapping (left-looking) • 15 May, 1991 – Cycle 2: Radar Mapping (right-looking) • 15 Jan, 1992 – Cycle 3: Radar Mapping (left-looking) • 14 Sept, 1992 – Cycle 4: Gravity data acquisition • 24 May 1993 – Aurobraking–tech., which uses planet's atmosphere to slow a spacecraft. • 03 Aug, 1994 – Cycle 5: Gravity data acquisition • 30 Aug, 1994- Wind mill Experiment • 12 Oct, 1994 – Loss of radio signal • 13 Oct, 1994- Loss of space craft | ||