Mission type | Venus lander | ||||||||||
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Operator | Lavochkin | ||||||||||
COSPAR ID | 1970-060A | ||||||||||
SATCAT no. | 4489 | ||||||||||
Mission duration | Orbiter: 53 years, 10 months and 27 days (in orbit) Lander: 23 minutes (final) | ||||||||||
Spacecraft properties | |||||||||||
Spacecraft | 4V-1 No. 630 | ||||||||||
Manufacturer | Lavochkin | ||||||||||
Launch mass | 1,180 kilograms (2,600 lb)[1] | ||||||||||
Landing mass | 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) | ||||||||||
Start of mission | |||||||||||
Launch date | 17 August 1970, 05:38:22[1] | UTC||||||||||
Rocket | Molniya 8K78M | ||||||||||
Launch site | Baikonur 31/6 | ||||||||||
End of mission | |||||||||||
Last contact | 15 December 1970, 06:00 | UTC||||||||||
Orbital parameters | |||||||||||
Reference system | Heliocentric | ||||||||||
Perihelionit altitude | 0.69 astronomical units (103,000,000 km) | ||||||||||
Apohelionit altitude | 1.01 astronomical units (151,000,000 km) | ||||||||||
Inclination | 2.0° | ||||||||||
Period | 287 days | ||||||||||
Venus lander | |||||||||||
Landing date | 15 December 1970, 05:37:10 UTC | ||||||||||
Landing site | 5°S 351°E / 5°S 351°E | ||||||||||
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Seal of Venera 7 |
Venera 7 (Russian: Венера-7, lit. 'Venus 7') was a Soviet spacecraft, part of the Venera series of probes to Venus. When it landed the Venusian surface on 15 December 1970, it became the first spacecraft to soft land on another planet and the first to transmit data from there back to Earth.[2][3]