00:00 On this day in space.
00:03 On December 24th, 1978, Venera 11 landed on Venus.
00:08 Venera 11 was a robotic mission launched by the Soviet Union to explore Venus along with
00:12 its sister spacecraft, Venera 12.
00:16 Venera 11 launched in September of 1978, just five days before Venera 12.
00:21 Three and a half months later, the spacecraft arrived at Venus and dropped off the lander.
00:26 The descent took about an hour, and Venera 11 made a soft landing on the surface at about
00:30 10.30pm Eastern Time.
00:32 The Venera spacecraft had instruments designed to study the planet's atmosphere and temperatures,
00:36 as well as the chemical composition of its soil.
00:40 It even carried a device called Groza that detected lightning on Venus.
00:44 Although it did have cameras on board, the lander didn't take any photos of Venus because
00:48 the lens cover failed to pop off.
00:50 And that's what happened on this day in space.
00:52 [Music]
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