Venera 4

Courtesy of NASA's National Space Science Data Center

Launch Date: 1967-06-12
On-orbit dry mass: 1106.00 kg

Description

Venera 4 was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (67-058B) towards the planet Venus with the announced mission of direct atmospheric studies. On October 18, 1967, the spacecraft entered the Venusian atmosphere and released two thermometers, a barameter, a radio altimeter, and atmospheric density gauge, 11 gas analyzers, and two radio transmitters operating in the DM waveband. The main bus, which had carried the capsule to Venus, included a magnetometer, cosmic ray detectors, hydrogen and oxygen indicators, and charged particle traps. Signals were returned by the spacecraft, which braked and then deployed a parachute system after entering the Venusian atmosphere, until it reached an altitude of 24.96 kilometers.