This global view of Venus, centered at 270 degrees east longitude, is a compilation of data from several sources. Magellan synthetic aperature radar mosaics from the first cycle of Magellan mapping are mapped onto a computer-simulated globe to create the image. Data gaps are filled with Pioneer-Venus orbiter data, or a constant mid-range value. Simulated color is used to enhance small-scale structure. The simulated hues are based on color images recorded by the Soviet Venera 13 and 14 spacecraft. The image was produced at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Multimission Image Processing Laboratory and is a single frame from a video released at the JPL news conference, 10-29-91. View provided by JPL with alternate number P-39225 MGN81.

This image covers part of the 150 kilometer (90 mile) wide, 1 to 1.5 kilometer (0.6 to 0.9 mile) deep valley, Devana Chasma. The image is a composite of the first two orbits recorded by NASA's Magellan spacecraft in August 1990 superimposed on Pioneer Venus topography. This image is located at the intersection of Devana Chasma and the Phoebe Regio upland. It covers a region approximately 525 by 525 kilometers (315 by 315 miles), centered 288 degrees east longitude on the equator. Devana Chasma consists of radar bright lineaments, interpreted to be fault scarps, oriented in a north-northeast direction. This part of the planet is thought to be an area where the crust is being stretched and pulled apart producing a rift valley, similar to the East African rift. http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00464

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Lewis Research Center’s Launch Vehicle Directorate in front of a full-scale model of the Centaur second-stage rocket. The photograph was taken to mark Centaur’s fiftieth launch. NASA Lewis managed the Centaur Program since 1962. At that time, the only prior launch attempt ended in failure. Lewis improved the spacecraft and tested it extensively throughout the early 1960s. In May 1966 an Atlas-Centaur sent the Surveyor spacecraft to the moon. It was the first successful soft landing on another planet. The Launch Vehicles Division was formed in 1969 to handle the increasing number of Centaur launches. The Lewis team became experts at integrating the payload with the Centaur and calculating proper trajectories for the missions. Centaur’s first 50 missions included Orbiting Astronomical Observatories, the Mariner 6 and 7 flybys of Mars, Mariner 9 which was the first spacecraft to orbit around another planet, the Pioneer 10 and 11 missions to the outer solar system, the Mariner 10 flyby of Venus and Mercury, the Viking 1 and 2 Mars landers, Voyagers 1 and 2 missions to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune, and the Pioneer 12 and 13 flights to Venus.