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Mission
Kind: Venus impactor
State: Spacecraft failure
Place: Venus
Operator: OKB-1
Date
Start:
Duration: 7 days
Mission Ending
Last Contact: 19 February 1961 (1961-02-20)
Rocket
Rocket: Molniya 8K78
Kind: OKB-1
Manufacturer: OKB-1
Mass: 6,424.0 kilograms (14,162.5 lb)
Launch Site: Baikonur 1/5
Flyby
1º Flyby: Venus
Orbit
Reference System: Heliocentric
Lander
"The journey, not the arrival, matters; the voyage, not the landing." - Paul Theroux
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 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.
