Fifty Years Ago: The First Images from the Surface of Another Planet
On October 20, 1975, 134 days after its June 8 launch from Baikonur Cosmodrome, the Soviet space probe Venera 9 approached to within 1600 km of the surface of the planet Venus. The probe released its principal payload, a 2.4 m diameter aluminum sphere containing a 2 m, 660 kg surface lander. The spacecraft bus (2.8 m, 3500 kg), carrying the probe’s propulsion system and fuel supply, solar array, antennae, control systems, and instrumentation, made two brief orbit insertion burns, achieving ...| UF Astraeus Space Institute
