1961-003A
The 643 kg 1VA No. 2 probe was intended to make the first Venus flyby. It was successfully launched into solar orbit, but stopped transmitting two weeks after launch due to a thermal control failure. The Soviet press referred to the probe as Avtomaticheskaya Mezhplanetaya Stantsiya `Venera' (the `Venera' Automatic Interplanetary Station). In later years it was retrospectively renamed Venera-1.
The probe was 2.0m long 1.05m dia with a 2.4m antenna.
Solar orbit was 106 x 151 Mkm x 0.5 deg. i.e. 0.708 x 1.01 AU
| AMS Venera | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1961 Feb 12 | 0034:36 | Launch by 8K78 | KB |
| 0039:36 | T+5:00 Blok-I burn | ||
| 0043:36 | T+9:00 Blok-I MECO | ||
| 0043 | Blok-I sep | 229 x 282 x 65.0 | |
| 0134 | BOZ operation | ||
| 0134 | Blok-L burn | ||
| 0134 | BOZ sep | ||
| 0138 | Blok-L sep | ||
| Solar orbit insertion | |||
| 0900 | 126300 km over 86.67E 6.07N | ||
| 1961 Feb 13 | 0900 | 486000 km over 88.03E 0.88N at 4.050 km/s | |
1961 Feb 14 | 1900 | Leave Earth sphere | |
| 1961 Feb 17 | 1104 | 1.889 Mkm from Earth -0.65S 54.62E v=3.923 km/s | |
| 1961 Feb 19 | 0900 | 2.537 Mkm from Earth | |
| 1961 Feb 21 | 0300 | 3.4 Mkm from Earth | |
| 1961 Feb 27 | End of transmissions | ||
| 1961 Mar 2 | Contact efforts ended | ||
| 1961 Mar 3 | 0900 | 6.683M km over 1.25S 69.5E at 4.166 km/s | |
| 1961 Apr 13 | 28M km | ||
| 1961 May 3 | 47M km | ||
| 1961 May 20 | Pass Venus at 180000 km? | ||
