1978 saw the launch of the Pioneer Venus missions launched by the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

, on 20 May and 8 August. The

Pioneer Venus Multiprobe The Pioneer Venus Multiprobe, also known as Pioneer Venus 2 or Pioneer 13, was a spacecraft launched in 1978 to explore Venus as part of NASA's Pioneer program. This part of the mission included a Satellite bus, spacecraft bus which was launched ...

landed four spacecraft on the planet, one of which transmitted data for 67 minutes before being destroyed by atmospheric pressure. ISEE-C, which was launched on 8 December, flew past comet

21P/Giacobini–Zinner Comet Giacobini–Zinner (officially designated as 21P/Giacobini–Zinner) is a periodic comet in the Solar System. It was discovered by Michel Giacobini, who observed it in the constellation of Aquarius on 20 December 1900. It was recovered ...

in 1985, and

Halley's Comet Halley's Comet is the only known List of periodic comets, short-period comet that is consistently visible to the naked eye from Earth, appearing every 72–80 years, though with the majority of recorded apparitions (25 of 30) occurring after ...

in 1986.Hughes, J (1996) Larousse Desk Reference Encloypedia London RD Press

Launches

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