AntarikshPedia
Venera 1

1957–1969: Opening the Space Age

Venera 1

First Soviet Venus mission; contact was lost en route.

Era 1 of 6 · full record in the catalog

Launch
year known only: 1961
Lead / partner
Soviet Union
Target
Venus
Category
Planetary flyby
Status
Failure
Vehicle
Molniya 8K78
Mass
unknown
Orbit / trajectory
Heliocentric
Duration
7 days

Why it happened

Venera 1 flew during 1957–1969: Opening the Space Age, as part of Soviet Union's work toward venus. A sourced write-up of the context around this mission is still on the editorial queue; nothing here is invented to fill the gap.

The mission

The full narrative of this mission is pending research and writing. What is recorded so far: First Soviet Venus mission; contact was lost en route.

Results

First Soviet Venus mission; contact was lost en route.

Related missions

Venera 1 Mariner 2 — same_target Mariner 2 Venera 4 — same_target Venera 4 Venera 7 — same_target Venera 7 Mariner 4 — same_program Mariner 4

Venera 4

Partial success

Soviet Union · 1967

Sources & image credits

  • Image credit: NASA · license: public-domain (source, checked 2026-08-23)
  • Mission record: AntarikshPedia canonical dataset (data-sources/missions_timeline.md)
  • Specifications reference: NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog