USSR · lander ended
Venera 13
The Soviet Venera 13 lander sent the first colour pictures from the scorching surface of Venus in 1982.
- Launch
- 30 October 1981
- End of mission
- 1 March 1982
- Distance from Earth today
- 42.17 million km0.282 AU · light: 2 min 21 s
- Distance from the Sun today
- 108.2 million km0.723 AU
The spacecraft is at Venus.
Position
JPL Horizons has no trajectory for this mission – the map shows the body where the spacecraft is.
Mission timeline
- Launch on a Proton rocket from Baikonur
- Lander touches down on Venus
- First colour panoramas from the surface of Venus; contact ends after about two hours
Targets: Venus
About the mission
Venera 13 was part of a long Soviet campaign to land on Venus, where the surface is hot enough to melt lead and the air pressure is about ninety times that on Earth. Its descent craft parachuted through the clouds and landed on 1 March 1982, while the flyby bus relayed its signals. Designed to last about half an hour, the lander kept working for roughly two hours, taking the first colour panoramas of the Venusian surface, drilling a soil sample for chemical analysis and recording the conditions around it before the heat finally silenced it.
Landing sites
Texture: Solar System Scope (CC BY 4.0) · names: IAU/USGS Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature
| Body | Site | Date | Coordinates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Venus | East of Phoebe Regio (approximate coordinates) | 1 March 1982 | 7.500° S, 57.000° W |