From The Archives: Venus In Its Entirety

Venus in its entirety was revealed for the first time in 1991 by the NASA Magellan Imaging Radar spacecraft which orbited the planet. 

 The image is found on page 70 of the issue of Aviation Week & Space Technology, dated Dec. 30, 1991, our annual photography issue. The Gamma Ray Observatory took this photo while gathering historic data on some of the most violent phenomena in the universe. Here is a "superbly detailed images of the surface of Venus transmitted by Magellan imaging radar spacecraft, show the alien surface of a planet that scientists believe may resemble Earth as it appeared billions of years ago. (Read the introduction to the space photographs on page 66.) 

See all the images from the photography issue of that year (Dec. 30, 1991), including a Lockheed F-117A, a British Airways Concorde, and a Cargolux Antonov AN-124. 

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