The Soviet Union’s Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to successfully land on the surface of Venus in 1970.
As of 1961, the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union had been ongoing for six years. The Soviet Union gained the upper hand by becoming the first nation to launch an artificial satellite into orbit, Sputnik 1, on October 4, 1957. They also sent the first living being, a dog named Laika, into space aboard Sputnik 2, which was launched on November 3 of the same year. Following this, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to travel into space aboard Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961.
Simulation of the Venera spacecraft landing on the surface of Venus. (Photo: Pixabay)
Two months earlier, on February 12 of the same year, the Soviet Union launched its first probe to another planet, Venera 1. The goal of this spacecraft was to orbit Venus, but a malfunction in the sensor caused it to lose contact with Earth before it reached a distance of 100,000 km from the planet. This was the first probe to combine all the necessary equipment on an interplanetary spacecraft: solar panels, telemetry antennas, a three-axis stabilizer, and a directional control engine.
The United States attempted to surpass the Soviet Union in the race to Venus when Mariner 2 flew within 35,000 km of the planet and transmitted data about surface temperatures in 1962. The Soviet Union tried again with Venera 2, but a malfunction due to overheating caused the mission to fail. In 1966, Venera 3 crashed onto the surface of Venus on March 1. However, it was the first human-made spacecraft to land on another planet.
Subsequent spacecraft, Venera 4, 5, and 6, transmitted crucial data about the atmosphere and pressure of Venus, parallel to information from Mariners 3, 4, and 5, but still could not get closer than 18 km to the planet’s surface. The high atmospheric pressure of Venus destroyed these crafts.
On December 15, 1970, approximately one year and five months after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon, marking a significant advancement in the space race, the Soviet Union became the first country to land a spacecraft on the surface of another planet with Venera 7. Venera 7 was the first spacecraft to gently land on the surface of Venus and successfully transmit data from another planet back to Earth. The spacecraft was launched on August 17, 1970, and entered Venus’s atmosphere four months later. Venera 7, weighing 495 kg, landed at coordinates 5 degrees South and 351 degrees East despite facing numerous challenges.
Although designed to withstand the extreme conditions of Venus (the spacecraft could endure pressures of 178 atm and temperatures of 580 degrees Celsius), the descent system encountered problems just before landing. It deployed as expected at an altitude of 60 km but malfunctioned a few minutes later, causing the spacecraft to descend faster than anticipated. Ultimately, despite being completely damaged, the probe landed at a speed of 16.5 m/s (59 km/h) and rolled over, leading to the misalignment of its radio antenna.
As a result, the transmitted signal was very weak but could still be received using telemetry techniques before the battery died. The collected data was analyzed weeks later, recording temperatures and pressures on Venus. For 23 minutes, Venera 7 endured temperatures reaching 475 degrees Celsius. Subsequently, nine other Venera probes and the Vega program also successfully landed on Venus and transmitted data about the planet’s geology. The last probe operated for two hours, providing the first images and direct observations of the planet’s surface. On December 2, 1971, the Soviet Union also successfully landed the first lander on Mars, Mars 3.
