Venera Timeline: The Soviet Union’s Venus Goals in Photos

Learn everything about the Venera missions, which were introduced between 1961 and 1983.

Over a third of the 30 space missions to date to successfully fly near or orbit Venus belonged to the previous Soviet Union’s Venera series of robot probes.

The Venera (or “Venus” in Russian”) missions, launched between 1961 and 1983, focused on researching the 2nd planet from our sun. 13 of the 28 spacecraft launched entered the Venusian atmosphere, and eight reached the surface.

The Soviet program set numerous firsts, including the first probe to descend into a planet’s atmosphere besides Earth, the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on another planet, and the very first missions to return photos and sounds from the surface of another planet.

Russia’s federal space corporation, named Roscosmos, is currently developing the first new Venera mission since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Venera-D, aimed to launch in 2029, would include an orbiter and a lander and function as a model for future missions to Venus.

Click through the slide show to learn all about the Venera probes as well as their discoveries.

Originally published on Space.com. Read the original article.