Missions to Venus

Mission	Country	Launch Date	Arrival Date	Type	Encounter Characteristics
Venera 1	USSR	February 12, 1961	----	Flyby	Now in solar orbit
Mariner 2	USA	August 27, 1962	December 14, 1962	Flyby	Closest approach: 34,833 km
Zond 1	USSR	April 2, 1964	----	Probe	Now in solar orbit
Venera 2	USSR	November 12, 1965	----	Flyby	Communications failed just before arrival. Now in solar orbit.
Venera 3	USSR	November 16, 1965	----	Atmospheric Probe	Communications failed just before atmosphere entry. Crashed on Venus
Venera 4	USSR	June 12, 1967	October 18, 1967	Atmospheric Probe	First probe to be placed directly in the atmosphere and to return atmospheric data. It was crushed by the pressure on Venus before it reached the surface.
Mariner 5	USA	June 14, 1967	October 19, 1967	Flyby	Closest approach: 3900 km
Venera 5	USSR	January 5, 1969	May 16, 1969	Atmospheric Probe	Burn-up
Venera 6	USSR	January 10, 1969	May 17, 1969	Atmospheric Probe	Returned data down to within 11 km of the surface before being crushed by the pressure.
Venera 7	USSR	August 17, 1970	December 15, 1970	Lander	First successful landing of a spacecraft on another planet. Returned 23 minutes of data.
Venera 8	USSR	March 27, 1972	July 22, 1972	Lander	Returned data for 50 minutes
Mariner 10	USA	November 3, 1973	February 5, 1974	Flyby	Dual planet mission to Venus and Mercury. Closest approach: 5700 km Images of cloud top
Venera 9	USSR	June 8, 1975	October 22, 1975	Orbiter	Periapsis: 1560 km Apoapsis: 112,200 km Period: 48 hours, 18 min Inclination: 34* 10' Photographed clouds and looked at the upper atmosphere.
				Lander	Transmitted first black and white pictures of the planet's surface
Venera 10	USSR	June 14, 1975	October 25, 1975	Orbiter	Periapsis: 1620 km Apoapsis: 113,900 km Period: 49 hours, 23 min Inclination: 29* 30' Photographed clouds and looked at the upper atmosphere
				Lander	Transmitted black and white photographs of the terrain.
Pioneer Venus 1 (Pioneer 12)	USA	May 20, 1978	December 4, 1978	Orbiter	Periapsis: 200 km Apoapsis: 66,000 km Period: 24 hours Inclination: 29* 30' Operated until 1992 when contact was lost. First spacecraft to use radar in mapping the planet's surface.
Pioneer Venus 2 (Pioneer 13)	USA	August 8, 1978	December 9, 1978	Atmospheric Probe	4 probes parachuted through the atmosphere.
Venera 11	USSR	September 9, 1978	December 25, 1978	Flyby	Closest approach: 25,000 km
				Lander	Returned data for 95 minutes. Imaging systems failed.
Venera 12	USSR	September 14, 1978	December 21, 1978	Flyby	Closest approach: 25,000 km
				Lander	Returned data for 110 minutes. Electrical discharges were recorded.
Venera 13	USSR	October 30, 1981	March 1, 1982	Flyby
				Lander	First color panoramic views of the planet's surface. Conducted soil analysis.
Venera 14	USSR	November 4, 1981	March 5, 1982	Flyby
				Entry probe	Returned both black & white and color panoramic views of the planet's surface. Conducted soil analysis.
Venera 15	USSR	June 2, 1983	October 10, 1983	Orbiter	Radar imaging
Venera 16	USSR	June 7, 1983	October 14, 1983	Orbiter	Radar imaging
Vega 1	USSR	December 15, 1984	June 11, 1985	Balloon/Lander	Vega 1 dropped off a Venera style lander and a balloon. The lander's soil experiment failed. The balloon floated for about 48 hours. Now in solar orbit.
Vega 2	USSR	December 21, 1984	June 15, 1985	Balloon/Lander	Vega 2 dropped off a Venera style lander and a balloon. The lander conducted soil experiments. The balloon floated for about 48 hours. Now in solar orbit.
Galileo	USA & Europe	October 18, 1989	February 10, 1990	Flyby	Images and near-infrared data on clouds. Used Venus to pick up speed on its way to Jupiter.
Magellan	USA	May 4, 1989	August 10, 1990	Orbiter	Mapped Venus using synthetic aperture radar. The imaging system produced images at 300 meters resolution.

An Overview of Space Exploration