Venera 8 was a Soviet space probe launched in 1972 that delivered a lander to the surface of Venus. It reached the planet in July, and its capsule descended through the thick atmosphere by parachute and landed on the sunlit side, in a region with a temperature of about 470 degrees Celsius and a crushing pressure. The lander transmitted data for about fifty minutes. It measured the light levels, which showed that sunlight was dimmed but did reach the ground, and found that the surface material resembled granite in its content of uranium, thorium and potassium. It was the first probe to return data from the surface of another planet's day side.
Before and after
- 1 February 1972Birth of Leymah Roberta Gbowee
- 29 February 1972Birth of Pedro Sánchez
- 3 March 1972Launch of Pioneer 10
- 15 March 1972Release of The Godfather
- 27 March 1972Launch of Venera 8
- 16 April 1972Launch of Apollo 16
- 16 April 1972Death of Yasunari Kawabata
- 17 April 1972Birth of Jennifer Garner
- 27 April 1972Death of Kwame Nkrumah
More in Universe & space
- 30 September 1975Discovery of Themisto
- 22 June 1978Discovery of Charon
- 20 January 1986Discovery of Ophelia
- 19 February 1986Launch of Mir
- 18 September 1989Discovery of Naiad
- 20 November 1998Launch of International Space Station
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.