Mission Atlas
← Mission directory

Mission record

Venera 4

Also known as Venus 4, Venera4

U.S.S.R · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Partial success

A Soviet bus and descent craft launched in June 1967, designed with the announced scientific objective of in-situ studies of the atmosphere of Venus down to the surface. The descent craft entered the nightside Venusian atmosphere on 18 October 1967 and its instruments remained on for 93 minutes, returning 23 sets of readings until it reached an altitude of roughly 25 km. NSSDCA calls it the first probe to transmit data from the atmosphere of another planet, and records that it failed to reach the surface because the temperatures and pressures deep in the atmosphere were much higher than it was designed for.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape Stage
Launch site
Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R
Countries
Soviet Union
Mission types
Atmospheric probe

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik towards Venus

    The launch/orbital information page prints 1967-06-12T02:40:00Z, recorded at minute precision because it prints a whole minute with zero seconds. The master catalog records that Venera 4 was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (67-058B) on 12 June 1967. The two pages disagree on the launch vehicle: Facts in Brief prints Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape Stage, while the descent craft page's own text says it was launched into Earth orbit with an upgraded Molniya_M and VL upper stage.

    Earth

  2. Milestone

    First transmission of data from the atmosphere of another planet

    The master catalog states that Venera 4 was the first probe to transmit data from the atmosphere of another planet, and the descent craft page states that it was the first probe to return data from the Venus atmosphere. Both wordings are quoted from NSSDCA rather than derived here. The probe measured an atmospheric composition of 90 - 95% carbon dioxide, and it was initially believed that it had reached the ground and that the measured temperature and pressure represented the surface values on Venus.

    Venus

  3. Mission end

    Transmission ends; NSSDCA decay date 1967-10-18

    The launch/orbital information page prints 1967-10-18 under the heading Decay Date, the day the probe entered the atmosphere and stopped transmitting after 93 minutes.

    Venus

  4. Milestone

    Descent craft separates and enters the nightside atmosphere

    Both pages record that the probe was released from the bus and entered the nightside Venusian atmosphere on October 18, 1967, at 04:34 UT. The main bus entered the atmosphere behind the probe but was not designed to survive entry.

    Venus

  5. Milestone

    Mid-course correction on 29 July

    Both pages record a mid-course correction on 29 July, after which the probe was released from the bus. Carried without a timestamp because the sentence that prints the day prints no year, and this catalog does not read a year out of a neighbouring sentence.

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Venera 4 carrier bus · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Venus

    • Venera 4 Descent Craft · Probe

      Destinations: Venus

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 3, 2026