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Illustration of the clouds in the Venusian atmosphere

Past Missions

The surface of Venus
Table of Past Successful Missions

Mariner 2
(P-38)

27 August 1962

NASA
United States

Flyby

Successful

Flyby on 14 December 1962

Atlas-LV3 Agena-B

Venera 4
(4V-1 No.310)

12 June 1967

Lavochkin
Soviet Union

Atmospheric

Successful

Returned atmospheric data during entry on 18 October 1967.
Never intended to work on surface[7]

Molniya-M

Mariner 5

14 June 1967

NASA
United States

Flyby

Successful

Flyby on 19 October 1967, closest approach at 17:34:56 UTC[8]

Atlas SLV-3 Agena-D

Venera 5
(4V-1 No.330)

5 January 1969

Lavochkin
Soviet Union

Atmospheric

Successful

Entered atmosphere on 16 May 1969, operated for 53 minutes

Molniya-M

Venera 6
(4V-1 No.331)

10 January 1969

Lavochkin
Soviet Union

Atmospheric

Successful

Entered atmosphere on 17 May 1969, operated for 51 minutes

Molniya-M

Venera 8
(4V-1 No.670)

27 March 1972

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Lander

Successful

Landed at 09:32 UTC on 22 July 1972. First fully successful landing on another planet.

Molniya-M

Mariner 10

3 November 1973

NASA

United States

Flyby

Successful

Flyby on 4 February 1974; closest approach at 17:01 UTC; observed Venus and performed gravity assist to reach Mercury

Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1A

Venera 9
(4V-1 No.660)

8 June 1975

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Orbiter/Lander

Successful

Entered orbit on 20 October 1975; lander landed at 05:13 UTC on 22 October. First images from the surface of another planet.

Proton-K/D

Venera 10
(4V-1 No.661)

14 June 1975

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Orbiter/Lander

Successful

Entered orbit on 23 October 1975; lander landed at 05:17 UTC on 25 October

Proton-K/D

Venera 11
(4V-1 No.360)

9 September 1978

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Flyby/Lander

Mostly successful

Flyby on 25 December; Lander landed at 03:24 UTC the same day. Multiple instrument failures on lander

Proton-K/D-1

Venera 12
(4V-1 No.361)

14 September 1978

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Flyby/Lander

Mostly successful

Lander landed at 03:20 UTC on 21 December 1978. Both cameras on lander failed

Proton-K/D-1

Pioneer Venus 1
(PV Orbiter)

20 May 1978

NASA

United States

Orbiter

Successful

Entered orbit on 4 December 1978, decayed on 22 October 1992

Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR

Pioneer Venus 2
(PV Multiprobe)

8 August 1978

NASA

United States

Atmospheric

Successful

Entered the atmosphere on 9 December 1978; consisted of five spacecraft, one of which briefly continued transmitting after reaching the surface[9]

Atlas SLV-3D Centaur-D1AR

Venera 13
(4V-1M No.760)

30 October 1981

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Flyby/Lander

Successful

Lander landed at 03:20 UTC on 1 March 1982.

Proton-K/D-1

Venera 14
(4V-1M No.761)

4 November 1981

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Flyby/Lander

Successful

Lander landed on 5 March 1982.

Proton-K/D-1

Venera 16
(4V-2 No.861)

7 June 1983

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Orbiter

Successful

Entered orbit 11 October 1983, operated until July 1984

Proton-K/D-1

Vega 1
(5VK No.901)

15 December 1984

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Flyby/Atmospheric/Lander

Successful

Landed 11 June 1985. Atmospheric probe deployed during entry operated for two days. Main bus continued to explore comet 1P/Halley

Proton-K/D-1

Vega 2
(5VK No.902)

21 December 1984

Lavochkin

Soviet Union

Flyby/Atmospheric/Lander

Successful

Landed 15 June 1985. Atmospheric probe deployed during entry operated for two days. Main bus continued to explore comet 1P/Halley

Proton-K/D-1

Magellan

4 May 1989

NASA

United States

Orbiter

Successful

Entered orbit 10 October 1990, deorbited 13 October 1994

Space Shuttle Atlantis
STS-30 / IUS

Galileo

18 October 1989

NASA

United States

Gravity assist at Venus

Successful

Flyby on 10 February 1990 en route to Jupiter; observed Venus during closest pass.

Space Shuttle Atlantis
STS-34 / IUS

Cassini

15 October 1997

NASA

United States

Gravity assist

Successful

Flybys on 26 April 1998 and 24 June 1999 en route to Saturn; observed Venus during closest pass.

Titan IV(401)B

MESSENGER

3 August 2004

NASA

United States

Gravity assist

Successful

Flybys on 24 October 2006 and 5 June 2007 en route to Mercury; observed Venus during closest pass.

Delta II 7925H

Venus Express

9 November 2005

ESA
European Union

Orbiter

Successful

Entered orbit 11 April 2006. Full communications lost on 28 November 2014 [10]

Soyuz-FG/Fregat

Akatsuki

20 May 2010

JAXA
Japan

Orbiter

Operational

Flew past Venus on 6 December 2010 after failing to enter orbit. Insertion was successfully reattempted on 7 December 2015.

H-IIA 202

IKAROS

20 May 2010

JAXA

Japan

Flyby

Successful

Experimental solar sail released from the Akatsuki spacecraft. Flew past Venus on 8 December 2010 but did not make observations.

H-IIA 202

Parker
Solar
Probe

12 August 2018

NASA

United States

Gravity assist

Operational

Flybys on 10 October 2018, 26 December 2019, 11 July 2020, 20 February 2021, 16 October 2021, 21 August 2023, and 6 November 2024 to lower perihelion for solar observation.

Delta IV Heavy/Star 48BV

Bepi
Colombo

20 October 2018

ESA

European Union

Gravity assist

Successful

Flybys on 15 October 2020 and 11 August 2021 en route to Mercury; observed Venus during closest pass.

Ariane 5 ECA

Vega Balloon

A key past mission is the Vega balloon.

The two Vega Balloons are the key past missions" Then Each balloon aerobot was designed to float at 54 km (34 mi) from the surface, in the most active layer of the Venusian cloud system. The instrument pack had enough battery power for sixty hours of operation and measured temperature, pressure, wind speed, and aerosol density. The balloon envelopes were surfaced with polytetrafluoroethylene to resist attack by the corrosive atmosphere. Both Vega-1 and Vega-2 balloons operated for more than 46 hrs from injection to the final transmission.

The balloons were spherical superpressure types with a diameter of 3.54 m (11.6 ft) and filled with helium. A gondola assembly weighing 6.9 kg (15 lb) and 1.3 m (4 ft 3 in) long was connected to the balloon envelope by a tether 13 m (43 ft) long. Total mass of the entire assembly was 21 kg (46 lb).

The Morning Star Habitability mission is inspired by the Russian “Vega” balloon mission to the atmosphere of Venus. The image is of a model on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution. Photo by Geoffrey A. Landis, 2011.

Photo of the Vega Venus balloon
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