Venera

Any of a series of unmanned Soviet planetary probes that were sent to Venus. Venera 2 (launched in 1965) flew to within 25,000 miles (40,200 km) of Venus in February 1966, and Venera 3 crash-landed on its surface the following month, becoming the first spacecraft to strike another planet. Venera 4 (1967) analyzed the chemical composition of Venus' upper atmosphere and provided the scientific community