Editing Vega program (section)

{{Short description|1985 Soviet space program with the first balloon flight on Venus}}
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{{Use American English|date=June 2019}}<!-- Please, do not change into British English, because British use 'programme'. Please see the talk page-->

[[Image:Vega-mission.jpg|thumb|Vega mission description]]

The '''''Vega'' program''' ({{langx|ru|Вега}}) was a series of [[Venus missions]] that also took advantage of the appearance of comet [[1P/Halley]] in 1986. ''[[Vega 1]]'' and ''[[Vega 2]]'' were uncrewed [[spacecraft]] launched in a cooperative effort among the [[Soviet Union]] (who also provided the spacecraft and launch vehicle) and [[Austria]],<ref name="Besser European Space Agency 2004 p. ">{{cite book | last=Besser | first=Bruno Philipp | author2=European Space Agency | title=Austria's history in space | publisher=ESA Publications Division | publication-place=Noordwijk, the Netherlands | date=2004 | isbn=92-9092-545-0 | oclc=56103655 | page=}}</ref> [[Bulgaria]], [[France]], [[Hungary]], the [[East Germany|German Democratic Republic]], [[Poland]], [[Czechoslovakia]], and the [[West Germany|Federal Republic of Germany]] in December 1984. They had a two-part mission to investigate [[Venus]] and also flyby [[Halley's Comet]].

The flyby of Halley's Comet had been a late mission change in the [[Venera]] program, following on from the cancellation of the American Halley mission in 1981. A later Venera mission was canceled and the Venus part of the ''Vega 1'' mission was reduced. Because of this, the craft was designated VeGa, a contraction of ''Venera'' and ''Gallei'' (Венера and Галлей respectively, the Russian words for "Venus" and "Halley"). The spacecraft design was based on the previous [[Venera 9]] and [[Venera 10]] missions.

The two spacecraft were launched on 15 and 21 December 1984, respectively. With their redesignated dual missions, the Vega probes became part of the [[Halley Armada]], a group of space probes that studied Halley's Comet during its 1985/1986 [[perihelion]].