VELIKOVSKY WAS RIGHT
Venera timeline: The Soviet Union's Venus missions in pictures


By Robert Z. Pearlman

Learn all about the Venera missions, which launched between 1961 and 1983.

The Soviet Union's Venera Venus missions (slideshow) | Space

Venera 13

The microphones on Venera 13 captured the sounds of the Venusian wind, the first recording of any sound on a planet other than Earth.

The lander, which operated for 127 minutes on the surface — almost three times longer than planned — also sent back color photos and analyzed a sample of Venus' soil, or regolith.


Venera 14

A twin of the Venera 13 spacecraft, Venera 14 landed on Venus on March 5, 1982, four days after its sibling.

It too recorded the sounds of the Venusian wind and sent back images. An attempt at measuring the compressibility of the surface soil accidentally measured an ejected lens cap instead.