On Dec. 24, 1978, Venera 11 landed on Venus.
Venera 11 was a robotic mission launched by the Soviet Union to explore Venus along with its sister spacecraft Venera 12. Venera 11 launched in September of 1978 just five days before Venera 12. Three and a half months later, the spacecraft arrived at Venus and dropped off the lander. The descent took about an hour, and Venera 11 made a soft landing on the surface at about 10:30 p.m. EST. The Venera spacecraft had instruments designed to study the planet’s atmosphere and temperatures, as well as the chemical composition of its soil. It even carried a device called Groza that detected lightning on Venus. Although it did have cameras on board, the lander didn't take any photos of Venus because the lens cover failed to pop off.
Venera 11 was a robotic mission launched by the Soviet Union to explore Venus along with its sister spacecraft Venera 12. Venera 11 launched in September of 1978 just five days before Venera 12. Three and a half months later, the spacecraft arrived at Venus and dropped off the lander. The descent took about an hour, and Venera 11 made a soft landing on the surface at about 10:30 p.m. EST. The Venera spacecraft had instruments designed to study the planet’s atmosphere and temperatures, as well as the chemical composition of its soil. It even carried a device called Groza that detected lightning on Venus. Although it did have cameras on board, the lander didn't take any photos of Venus because the lens cover failed to pop off.
Category
🤖
TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:04On December 24th, 1978, Venera 11 landed on Venus.
00:08Venera 11 was a robotic mission launched by the Soviet Union
00:12to explore Venus along with its sister spacecraft, Venera 12.
00:16Venera 11 launched in September of 1978, just five days before Venera 12.
00:20Three and a half months later, the spacecraft arrived at Venus
00:24and dropped off the lander. The descent took about an hour,
00:28and Venera 11 made a soft landing on the surface at about 1030 p.m. Eastern Time.
00:32The Venera spacecraft had instruments designed to study the planet's atmosphere
00:36and temperatures, as well as the chemical composition of its soil.
00:40It even carried a device called Groza that detected lightning on Venus.
00:44Although it did have cameras on board, the lander didn't take any photos of Venus
00:48because the lens cover failed to pop off.
00:52And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:58NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology