Number 139 (Story #5), August 10, 1993 by Phillip F. Schewe and Ben Stein SPACECRAFT UPDATE: The Magellan craft, named for Earth's first circumnavigator, had dramatically altered its circumnavigation of Venus; by using the atmosphere as a brake, Magellan shifted it eccentric orbit (with a high point of 8500 km) to a more circular orbit (no higher than 600 km above the surface), the better to measure gravity in the polar regions (Science News, 24 July). Moving from the planet named for the goddess of love to that named for the god of war, the Mars Observer will reach its destination in August (the month named for Caesar Augustus, another Roman god) and begins mapping the planet's surface in November (Astronomy, Sept. 1993).