First to Venus : The Story of Mariner II (1963)

This is the story of the first planetary probe to examine another planet. The exciting story of the successes and failures as they try to collect the first data from another planet.

Satellite or robot probe? Once Venus turned out to be too hot, muggy (and acid) for us you don't hear much about Planet# 2 anymore. But back when we were exploring the neighborhood it was kind of exciting to see behind the "curtain" and learn a little more about Venus. As I said I grew up next to JPL so at the time this was regarded at my school as one of "our" spaceships.

Newlan, Irl. First to Venus: The Story of Mariner II. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co Inc. (64 p.) 26 cm.

Also a 1964 UK reprint.