Named for the leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate the Earth and the present highly successful automated expedition to Venus. Ferdinand Magellan {1480?–1521} did not survive the epic voyage of 1519–1522, but the expedition was a triumph of navigation and yielded discoveries (including the closest galaxies to our own) that sustained generations of explorers. The Magellan spacecraft, unlike its namesake, completed its voyage in timely fashion and only then met its real goal, the mapping of the surface of our planetary twin, a task being carried out with stunning success. (M 17466) _ _.