Venera 3:
Nation: USSR (37)
Objective(s): Venus impact
Spacecraft: 3MV-3 (no. 1)
Spacecraft Mass: 958 kg
Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M
Launch Date and Time: 6 November 1965 / N/A
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31
Scientific Instruments:
Bus:
1) radiation detector
(rest unknown)
Results: This was the second of three 3MV spacecraft the Soviets attempted to launch toward Venus in late 1965.
Venera 3 successfully left Earth orbit and released a small 0.9- meter-diameter, 337-kilogram (some sources say 310-kilogram) landing capsule to explore the Venusian atmosphere and transmit data on pressure, temperature, and composition of the Venusian atmosphere back to Earth during the descent by parachute.
During the outbound trajectory, ground controllers successfully performed a midcourse correction on 26 December 1965 and completed 93 communications sessions. However, contact was lost on 16 February 1966, shortly before the Venusian encounter, although the spacecraft automatically released its sterilized lander probe, which landed inertly on the Venusian surface at 06:56 UT on 1 March 1966.
It was the first time a humanmade object had made physical contact with another planetary body besides the Moon.
Later investigation confirmed that Venera 3 suffered many of the same failures as Venera 2, such as overheating of internal components and the solar panels.
Editor's Note: This mission profile was originally published in Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958-2000, by Asif A. Siddiqi, NASA Monographs in Aerospace History No. 24
