... The last decade saw the profound discovery of many worlds beyond our solar system, but none analogs of our home planet Earth. ... Spacecraft NEAR Shoemaker in orbit around asteroid 433 Eros found out earlier this month when it recorded its first fly-over sequence. ... Venus Once Molten Surface . ... If you could look at Venus with radar eyes - this is what you might see. ... The Lunar Orbiter 1 spacecraft was launched in 1966 to map the lunar surface in preparation for the Apollo moon landings. ...