MOSCOW: The Soviet Union disclosed today [Jan 26] that its latest Venus probe had become the first spacecraft to transmit information from the surface of another planet. Soviet news agency “Tass” reported that the space probe, which reached Venus last month, had actually landed on the planet. In a report last December 15, the “Tass” had simply said the craft had “reached” Venus.

The Venus-7 probe reached the mystery-shrouded planet on December 15 after a 120-day journey from earth. “Tass” said today for the first time that it sent back details of atmospheric conditions at its landing site. Venus-7 established that the temperature on the surface on Venus — the “Evening Star” — ranged from about 20 degrees either side of 475 centigrade. ...

The atmosphere pressure was equivalent to about 90 times that on earth. Venus-7 was launched on August 17 and after trajectory correction on November 17, it was reported to have entered the Venusian atmosphere on Dec 15 — just 14 seconds after its journey of 200 million miles. Official reports at the time said signals were received for 35 minutes during the descent stage and that it had “successfully completed” its journey.

Published in Dawn, January 27th, 2021