Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 17 August 1970
- The Venera 7 probe continued transmitting a signal for around 23 minutes after landing. It was the first transmission from another planet in the history of mankind.
The first space probe in human history to successfully land on another planet was launched on this day in 1970.
The probe in question was called Venera 7 (Венера-7, Venus-7), and needed slightly under four months to travel from Earth to Venus.
The probe entered Venus’s atmosphere and deployed a special parachute at an altitude of around 60 kilometers. It appears the parachute was partially damaged during the descent, which made it faster than planned.
The Venus 7 probe eventually landed on the planet’s surface at a speed of around 16.5 meters per second, which however didn’t prove fatal.
The Venera 7 probe continued transmitting a signal for around 23 minutes after landing. It was the first transmission from another planet in the history of mankind. The information which it transmitted included the local temperature – a staggering 475 degrees Celsius.
