Venera 9

Chronology

Mission timeline

1. June 8, 1975, 02:38 UTC

   Launch

   Launched on a Proton-K booster from Baikonur Cosmodrome

   The launch/orbital information page prints 1975-06-08T02:38Z, recorded at minute precision because it prints a whole minute with zero seconds; the master catalog prints 2:38 UT and the descent craft page 02:38:00 UT for the same launch. Both pages name the booster in their own text as a Proton-K while printing Proton Booster Plus Upper Stage and Escape Stages under Launch Vehicle.

   Earth
2. October 22, 1975

   Landing

   Descent craft lands near Beta Regio

   The descent craft page records that on October 20, 1975, the descent craft was separated from the Orbiter and landing was made at 05:13 UT on October 22, at 31.7 N, 291 E near Beta Regio, about 2,200 km from the Venera 10 landing site, with a 7 m/sec impact absorbed by a landing cushion. Carried at day precision from the Decay Date of 1975-10-22 on the descent craft's own launch/orbital information page: the clause that prints 05:13 UT prints no year of its own, and this catalog does not combine a time from one sentence with a date from another. That page's Lander row gives the coordinates as latitude 32.000, longitude 291.000, against the 31.7 N the descent craft page prints.

   Venus
3. October 22, 1975

   Orbit insertion

   Orbiter enters Venus orbit

   The master catalog records that after releasing the descent module the orbiter performed two burns, one on 20 October and one on 22 October, and that the second put it into a 1,500 x 111,700 km altitude, 48.3 hour period orbit at an inclination of 34.17 degrees, later changed to 1547 x 112,144 km at 34.15 degrees. The two pages disagree on the inclination: the launch/orbital information page's Venus orbiter row gives 29.500 degrees with the same 48.30 hour period, and its epoch starts at 1975-10-22 00:00:00, which is the midnight placeholder this catalog does not read as an observed time.

   Venus
4. October 22, 1975

   Milestone

   First images returned from the surface of another planet

   The master catalog states that Venera 9 was the first mission to return pictures from the surface of Venus, and the first to go into orbit around another planet, and the descent craft page states that Venera 9 transmitted images of the Venus surface, the first images ever sent back from the surface of another planet. Both wordings are quoted from NSSDCA rather than derived here. The descent craft page records that the panoramic imaging system could only take a 180 degree image instead of the planned 360-degree panorama because one of the two covers failed to release. Carried at day precision from the Decay Date of 1975-10-22 on the descent craft's own launch/orbital information page, the same page the landing event takes its day from; the prose on the page this event describes prints no date of its own.

   Venus
5. Date unknown

   Milestone

   Two mid-course corrections en route to Venus

   Both pages record two mid-course corrections, on 16 June and 15 October. Carried without a timestamp because the sentences that print those days print no year.

6. Date unknown

   Mission end

   Lander relay ends, and the orbiter transmitter fails after three months

   The descent craft page records that the circulating fluid system permitted operation for at least 53 min after landing, and that according to Soviet reports transmission ceased after 53 minutes because the orbiter relay passed out of range of the lander. The master catalog records that after three months the orbiter's transmitter failed, ending the mission; it gives no date, so this event carries no timestamp.

   Venus

Mission architecture

Vehicles

• Venera 9 Orbiter · Orbiter

  Destinations: Venus

  • Venera 9 Descent Craft · Lander · completed

    Destinations: Venus