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 (including gravity-assist flybys) space missions to the planet Venus. 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. Soft landing on 9 December 1978.[1][2][3][4][5][6] The most recent lander was the 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.