Venera 1
Venera 1 — the first spacecraft launched toward another planet (12 February 1961). It worked normally for its first days, but contact failed on 4 March, 7.5 million km from Earth. Unable to correct its course, it passed within about 100,000 km of Venus on 19–20 May 1961, silent, and went into orbit around the Sun.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- OKB-1 (USSR)
- Launched
- February 12, 1961
- Status
- Lost
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.726 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 0.341 AU
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.112 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Venera 1 was the first spacecraft launched toward another planet. It left Earth on 12 February 1961, sent on its way from a heavy satellite parked in Earth orbit — a method the Soviet Union used for its planetary probes from then on. A week earlier the first attempt, Sputnik 7, had never left that parking orbit. The probe was a cylinder about two metres tall, with a magnetometer on a boom, detectors for charged particles, micrometeorites and cosmic rays, and a pressurised sphere carrying a Soviet pennant, designed to float if Venus turned out to have oceans. Its first communication sessions went well; on 17 February, 1.89 million km out, it reported normal temperature and pressure inside and returned scientific data. After that the record is uncertain: a session on 22 February was acknowledged according to its designers but has also been reported as a failure. On 4 March, 7.5 million km from Earth, communications failed for good. Without a working radio its course could not be corrected. On 19 and 20 May 1961 Venera 1 passed within about 100,000 km of Venus, silent, and went into orbit around the Sun, where it remains.
- 1961Launch toward VenusLaunch
Sent on its way from a heavy satellite in Earth orbit.
- 1961A normal session, 1.89 million km outMilestone
It reports normal conditions aboard and returns scientific data.
- 1961Communications failMission end
Contact fails 7.5 million km from Earth and is never regained.
Unable to correct its course, it passes the planet on 19–20 May and goes into orbit around the Sun.
Images
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