Venera 1
Venera 1 (Russian: Венера-1 meaning Venus 1), also known as Venera-1VA No.2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 8 was the first spacecraft to perform an interplanetary flight and the first to fly past Venus, as part of the Soviet Union's Venera programme. Launched in February 1961, it flew past Venus on 19 May of the same year; however, radio contact with the probe was lost before the flyby, resulting in it returning no data.
Mockup of the Venera 1 spacecraft | |
| Mission type | Venus impactor |
|---|---|
| Operator | OKB-1 |
| Harvard designation | 1961 Gamma 1 |
| COSPAR ID | 1961-003A |
| SATCAT no. | 80 |
| Mission duration | 7 days |
| Spacecraft properties | |
| Spacecraft | 1VA No.2 |
| Manufacturer | OKB-1 |
| Launch mass | 6,424.0 kilograms (14,162.5 lb) |
| Dry mass | 643.5 kilograms (1,419 lb) |
| Start of mission | |
| Launch date | February 12, 1961, 00:34:36 UTC |
| Rocket | Molniya 8K78 |
| Launch site | Baikonur 1/5 |
| End of mission | |
| Last contact | 19 February 1961 |
| Orbital parameters | |
| Reference system | Heliocentric |
| Eccentricity | 0.173 |
| Perihelion altitude | 0.718 AU |
| Aphelion altitude | 1.019 AU |
| Inclination | 0.58° |
| Period | 311 days |
| Flyby of Venus | |
| Closest approach | 19 May 1961 |
| Distance | 100,000 km (62,000 mi) |
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