List of missions to Venus

Launches to Venus
Decade
1960s
18
1970s
11
1980s
8
1990s
1
2000s
2
2010s
5
2020s
1
Global topographic map of Venus, with all probe landings marked (red: returned images; with additional black dot: analyzed samples).

There have been 46 space missions to the planet Venus (including gravity-assist flybys). Missions to Venus constitute part of the exploration of Venus. The Soviet Union, followed by the United States, have soft landed probes on the surface. Venera 7 was the first lander overall and first for the Soviet Union, touching down on 15 December 1970. Pioneer Venus 2 contained the first spacecraft to land from the United States, the Day Probe. It soft landed on 9 December 1978.[1][2][3][4][5][6] The most recent lander was part of the Vega 2 mission, which soft landed on 15 June 1985.

  1. ^ "Pioneer Venus Project Information". Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  2. ^ "Pioneer Venus 2". Retrieved 30 December 2023. The so-called Day Probe transmitted data from the surface for 67 minutes, 37 seconds, before succumbing to the high temperatures, pressures and power depletion.
  3. ^ "Pioneer Venus Probes". Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Summary of the Pioneer Venus MIssion". Retrieved 30 December 2023.
  6. ^ "40 Years Ago, Pioneers Encounter Venus". 10 December 2018. Retrieved 30 December 2023. Amazingly, two of the probes survived touchdown and continued to return data from the surface – Night Probe for just 2 seconds (it likely tipped over after landing) and Day Probe for 68 minutes.