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Mission record

Venera 8

Also known as Venus 8, Venera8

U.S.S.R · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

One of a pair of Soviet Venus atmospheric lander probes designed for the spring 1972 launch window, whose objectives were to make a more sophisticated set of scientific measurements at the Venus surface, including studies of the Venus regolith. Its companion, Cosmos 482, failed to leave Earth orbit. The descent craft separated on 22 July 1972, entered the atmosphere on the sunlit side and landed, continuing to send back data for 63 minutes after landing before failing due to the harsh surface conditions. NSSDCA records that the first measurements of the surface regolith of Venus were returned, along with a profile of the cloud layer including detection of sulfuric acid.

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
Lander, Atmospheric probe

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched towards Venus

    All three pages print the launch as 27 March 1972 at 04:15:01 UT and agree to the second. 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 launched on a Molniya-M with an NVL upper stage from Baikonur.

    Earth

  2. Milestone

    One mid-course correction on 6 April 1972

    Both pages record that the spacecraft took 117 days to reach Venus with one mid-course correction on 6 April 1972.

  3. Landing

    Lands at approximately 10.70 degrees south, 335.25 degrees east

    Carried at day precision, from the Decay Date of 1972-07-22 on the launch/orbital information page, because neither sentence that prints a landing time prints a date beside it and the two pages disagree on the time: the master catalog gives 09:32 UT and the descent craft page 09:28:40 UT. Both give the site as approximately 10.70 degrees south, 335.25 degrees east, at 6:24 local Venus solar time with a solar zenith angle of 84.5 degrees, and the descent craft page adds a touchdown speed of 6.5 meters/second.

    Venus

  4. Mission end

    Data returned for 63 minutes after landing

    Both pages record that it continued to send back data for 63 minutes after landing before failing due to the harsh surface conditions, and that the carrier bus transmitted data from its instruments until entering the atmosphere and incinerating. The two pages disagree on the surface pressure the probe confirmed: the master catalog gives 470 degrees C and 90 atmospheres, the descent craft page 470 degrees C and 95 bar.

    Venus

  5. Deployment

    Descent craft separates from the bus

    The master catalog records that it separated from the bus on 22 July 1972 at 07:44 UT. The descent craft page gives 07:40 UT for the same separation and states that all times given there are in spacecraft local time, equal to Earth received time minus 3:36 light travel time. The two pages differ by four minutes here and by 3 minutes 20 seconds at the landing, so the offset the descent craft page declares does not reproduce either gap exactly and the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved. The record follows the master catalog, which is the page that prints the full date beside the time.

    Venus

  6. Milestone

    Enters the atmosphere on the sunlit side at an angle of 77 degrees

    The master catalog records entry on the sunlit side at 08:37 UT at an angle of 77 degrees, in the same sentence that prints the date 22 July 1972. The two pages disagree on the distance from the morning terminator: the master catalog gives about 500 km and the descent craft page about 600 km.

    Venus

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Venera 8 · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Venus

    • Venera 8 Descent Craft · Lander · completed

      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