Editing Soviet space program (section)

== Venusian missions ==
[[File:Почтовая марка СССР № 5278. 1982. Полёт автоматических межпланетных станций «Венера-13» и «Венера-14».jpg|left|thumb|223x223px|A Soviet stamp from 1982 showing Venera 13 and 14]]
The [[Venera]] programme marked many firsts in space exploration and [[Observations and explorations of Venus|explorations of Venus]]. [[Venera 1]] and [[Venera 2]] resulted in failure due to losses of contact, [[Venera 3]], which also lost contact, marked the first time a man-made object made contact with another planet after it impacted Venus on March 1, 1966. [[Venera 4]], [[Venera 5]], and [[Venera 6]] performed successful atmospheric entry. In 1970 [[Venera#Venera 7|Venera 7]] marked the first time a spacecraft was able to return data after landing on another planet.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Venera 7 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-060A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

Venera 7 held a resistant [[thermometer]] and an aneroid [[barometer]] to measure the temperature and atmospheric pressure on the surface, the transmitted data showed 475 C at the surface, and a pressure of 92 bar. A wind of 2.5 meters/sec was extrapolated from other measurements. The landing point of Venera 7 was {{coord|5|S|9|W}}.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 7, The First Craft to Make Controlled Landing on Another Planet And Send Data From its Surface |url=https://www.amusingplanet.com/2021/12/venera-7-first-craft-to-make-controlled.html |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=www.amusingplanet.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 7 |url=http://weebau.com/satplan/venera%207.htm |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=weebau.com}}</ref> Venera 7 impacted the surface at a somewhat high speed of 17 metres per second, later analysis of the recorded radio signals revealed that the probe had survived the impact and continued transmitting a weak signal for another 23 minutes. It is believed that the spacecraft may have bounced upon impact and come to rest on its side, so the antenna was not pointed towards Earth.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Plumbing the Atmosphere of Venus |url=http://mentallandscape.com/V_Lavochkin1.htm |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=mentallandscape.com}}</ref>
[[File:Foto de Venera 9.png|thumb|313x313px|Surface of Venus taken by Venera 9]]
In 1972, [[Venera 8]] landed on Venus and measured the light level as being suitable for surface photography, finding it to be similar to the amount of light on Earth on an overcast day with roughly 1&nbsp;km visibility.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 8 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1972-021A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

In 1975, [[Venera 9]] established an orbit around Venus and successfully returned the first photography of the surface of Venus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 9 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1975-050A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 9 descent craft |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1975-050D |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> [[Venera 10]] landed on Venus and followed with further photography shortly after.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venus - Venera 10 Lander |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/v10_lander_proc.html |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

In 1978, [[Venera 11]] and [[Venera 12]] successfully landed, however ran into issues performing photography and soil analysis. Venera 11's light sensor detected lightning strikes.<ref>{{Cite web |title=A history of the search for life on Venus |url=https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/space-missions/history-search-life-venus |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=www.skyatnightmagazine.com |date=September 14, 2020 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Venera 11 & 12 probes to Venus |url=https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/heasarc/missions/venera1112.html |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 11 descent craft |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1978-084D |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>
[[File:Surface of Venus taken by Venera 13 (panoramic).jpg|thumb|310x310px|Surface of Venus taken by Venera 13 (panoramic)]] 
In 1981, [[Venera 13]] performed a successful soft-landing on Venus and marked the first probe to drill into the surface of another planet and take a sample.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Venera 13 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1981-106D |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Surface of Venus |url=https://pages.uoregon.edu/jschombe/ast121/lectures/surface_venus.html |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=pages.uoregon.edu}}</ref> Venera 13 also took an audio sample of the Venusian environment, marking another first.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Drilling into the Surface of Venus |url=http://mentallandscape.com/V_Venera11.htm |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=mentallandscape.com}}</ref>

Venera 13 returned the first color images of the surface of Venus, revealing an orange-brown flat bedrock surface covered with loose [[regolith]] and small flat thin angular rocks. The composition of the sample determined by the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer put it in the class of weakly differentiated melanocratic alkaline gabbroids, similar to terrestrial leucitic basalt with a high potassium content. The acoustic detector returned the sounds of the spacecraft operations and the background wind, estimated to be a speed of around 0.5 m/sec wind.<ref name=":4" />

[[Venera 14]], an identical spacecraft to Venera 13, launched 5 days apart. The mission profiles were very similar, except 14 ran into issues using it's spectrometer to analyze the soil.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 14 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1981-110A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

In total 10 Venera probes achieved a soft landing on the surface of Venus.

In 1984, the [[Vega program]]me began and ended with the launch of two crafts launched 6 days apart, [[Vega 1]] and [[Vega 2]]. Both crafts deployed a balloon in addition to a lander, marking a first in spaceflight.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vega 1 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1984-125A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Vega 2 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1984-128A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=In Depth {{!}} Vega 2 |url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/vega-2/in-depth/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=NASA Solar System Exploration}}</ref>