Remembering: Soviet probes to Venus

In the late 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union performed one incredible feat after another in space. But they had a serious problem with Venus.

From February 1961 through November 1965, the Soviet Union tried a dozen times to get a probe to send data from Venus. Only three got there; they were called Venera 1, Venera 2 and Venera 3. None of the three sent back data. However, by crashing into Venus in March 1966, Venera 3 became the first spacecraft to ever “land” on another planet.

Lucky Venera 13: Color photo from the surface of Venus

In 1967, Venera 4 apparently performed a soft landing on Venus—and failed to transmit data. Venera’s 5 and 6 were crushed by Venus’ atmosphere while attempting to land.

Finally, on December 15, 1970, Venera 7 landed on Venus and transmitted data back from the surface for 23 minutes. This was the first truly successful landing on another planet.

That said, data is not a photo. And images are what make these missions seem “real” to ordinary people. By that standard, the Soviets finally reached success with Veneras 9 and 10 which sent back the first black and white photos from the surface of Venus in 1975.

By 1981, the Soviets succeeded with Venera 13, which sent back color images of Venus from the surface.