| Time
(UTC/GMT+0) | | Event |
|
|
| 1973-11-03 05:45:00 | | Launch |
|
| 1973-11-03 06:23:00 | | Spacecraft separation |
|
| 1973-11-03 06:27:15 | | Start Sun acquisition |
|
| 1973-11-03 06:45:00 | | Solar panels, MGA boom, LGA, HGA unlatched |
|
| 1973-11-03 07:00:00 | | Dish pin enagaged |
|
| 1973-11-03 07:05:00 | | Boom pin engaged |
|
| 1973-11-03 07:09:14 | | Sun acquired |
|
| 1973-11-03 07:24:23 | | HGA dish unlatched |
|
| 1973-11-03 07:38 | | Scan platform unlatched |
|
| 1973-11-03 07:45 | | Dish axis slew |
|
| 1973-11-03 07:51 | | Dish axis slew |
|
| 1973-11-03 08:57 | | First scan cone position slew |
|
| 1973-11-03 09:38 | | Canopus tracker switched on |
|
| 1973-11-03 10:08 | | Expected Vega acquisition time |
|
| 1973-11-03 16:45 | | Vega acquired |
|
| 1973-11-03 22:30 | | Start returning pictures of Earth and Moon |
|
| 1973-11-09 | | Images of Earth (5th) and Moon (6th) for camera calibration |
|
| 1973-11-13 | | Trajectory correction maneuver 1: 7.77m/sec in 19.9sec burn |
|
| 1973-12-18 | | First indication that scan platform is sticking |
|
| 1973-12-25 | | High gain antenna anomaly |
|
| 1974-01-03 | | High gain antenna healed |
|
| 1974-01-06 | | High gain antenna failure |
|
| 1974-01-08 | | Power irreversibly switched to backup system for unknown reasons |
|
| 1974-01-16 | | UV observations of comet Kohoutek |
|
| 1974-01-21 | | Trajectory correction maneuver 2: 1.2m/sec in 3.8sec burn |
|
| 1974-01-28 | | Gyro malfunction causes attitude control system to waste 16% of nitrogen supply |
|
| 1974-02-05 16:50 | | First Venus images returned |
|
| 1974-02-05 17:01 | | Venus Fly-by - first gravity assist by a spacecraft to reach another planet (5,768 km) |
|
| 1974-02-09 | | DSS tape recorder stuck |
|
| 1974-02-13 | | Last image of Venus |
|
| 1974-02-14 | | Gyro tests to investigate structural oscillation |
|
| 1974-02-18 | | Loss of Canopus caused by bright particles |
|
| 1974-03-04 | | High gain antenna healed |
|
| 1974-03-09 | | Spacecraft placed in solar sailing mode to conserve attitude control gas |
|
| 1974-03-11 | | Loss of Canopus caused by bright particles |
|
| 1974-03-16 | | Trajectory correction maneuvre 3: 18m/sec in 51sec burn |
|
| 1974-03-16 | | Solar panel (-x) anomaly |
|
| 1974-03-23 | | First Mercury images from a distance of 5.3 million km |
|
| 1974-03-29 20:47 | | First Mercury flyby (703 km) |
|
| 1974-03-30 | | Power anomaly |
|
| 1974-03-30 | | X-band transmitter anomaly. Transmitter output erratic |
|
| 1974-04-05 | | Perihelion (closest approach to Sun) |
|
| 1974-04-08 | | LGA deploy. Configured for extended mission |
|
| 1974-04-08 | | DSS tape recorder ON/OFF toggle caused by power anomaly on 30Mar1974 |
|
| 1974-04-15 | | End primary mission. Start of extended mission. |
|
| 1974-05-09 | | Trajectory correction maneuvre 4A: 50m/sec |
|
| 1974-05-10 | | Trajectory correction maneuvre 4B: 27.7m/sec |
|
| 1974-05-24 | | Start superior conjunction period |
|
| 1974-06-06 | | Superior conjunction |
|
| 1974-07-02 | | Trajectory correction maneuvre 5: 3.35m/sec |
|
| 1974-07-20 | | End superior conjunction period |
|
| 1974-08-14 | | DSS tape recorder failure. Stuck past parking window |
|
| 1974-08-20 | | Attempts to revive DSS tape recorder fail |
|
| 1974-09-19 | | Takes images of Jupiter for calibration purposes |
|
| 1974-09-21 20:59 | | Second Mercury flyby (48,069 km) |
|
| 1974-10-05 | | Loss of Canopus caused by bright particles |
|
| 1974-10-06 | | Loss of Canopus caused by bright particles. Reacquisition would use up most of remaining attitude control gas. Spacecraft left in roll-drift-mode |
|
| 1974-10-30 | | Trajectory correction maneuvre 6. Spacecraft back to roll-drift-mode upon completion. |
|
| 1975-02-12 | | Trajectory correction maneuvre 7 aborted due to uncertainty in identifying Canopus |
|
| 1975-02-13 | | Trajectory correction maneuvre 7. |
|
| 1975-03-07 | | Trajectory correction maneuvre 8. Provides assurance of not colliding with Mercury. |
|
| 1975-03-13 | | Tremedous difficulties in acquiring Canopus until 15Mar1975 |
|
| 1975-03-16 22:39:24 | | Third Mercury flyby (327 km) |
|
| 1975-03-24 12:21 | | Mission terminated due to depletion of attitude control gas. Radio subsystem turned off. |