Soviet space probe launched in 1961; first spacecraft to fly by Venus
Venera 1
Mockup of the Venera 1 spacecraft
Mission type
Venus impactor
Operator
OKB-1
Harvard designation
1961 Gamma 1
COSPAR ID
1961-003A
SATCAT no.
80
Mission duration
7 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft
1VA No.2
Manufacturer
OKB-1
Launch mass
6,424.0 kilograms (14,162.5 lb)
Dry mass
643.5 kilograms (1,419 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date
February 12, 1961, 00:34:36 (1961-02-12UTC00:34:36Z) UTC
Rocket
Molniya 8K78
Launch site
Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Last contact
19 February 1961 (1961-02-20)
Orbital parameters
Reference system
Heliocentric
Eccentricity
0.173
Perihelion altitude
0.718 AU
Aphelion altitude
1.019 AU
Inclination
0.58°
Period
311 days
Flyby of Venus
Closest approach
19 May 1961
Distance
100,000 km (62,000 mi)
Venera
← Tyazhely Sputnik
Venera 2MV-1 No.1 →
Venera 1 (Russian: Венера-1 meaning Venus 1), also known as Venera-1VA No.2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 8 was the first spacecraft to perform an interplanetary flight and the first to fly past Venus, as part of the Soviet Union's Venera programme.[1] Launched in February 1961, it flew past Venus on 19 May of the same year; however, radio contact with the probe was lost before the flyby, resulting in it returning no data.
^"Venera 1". NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive. Retrieved 2019-08-15.
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Retrieved 15 April 2019. "Venera1". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 26 November 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2019. "Venera | Soviet space probes"...