OTD In Space - December 24: Venera 11 Lands On Venus

On Dec. 24, 1978, Venera 11 landed on Venus.

Venera 11 was a robotic mission launched by the Soviet Union to explore Venus along with its sister spacecraft Venera 12. Venera 11 launched in September of 1978 just five days before Venera 12. Three and a half months later, the spacecraft arrived at Venus and dropped off the lander. The descent took about an hour, and Venera 11 made a soft landing on the surface at about 10:30 p.m. EST. The Venera spacecraft had instruments designed to study the planet’s atmosphere and temperatures, as well as the chemical composition of its soil. It even carried a device called Groza that detected lightning on Venus. Although it did have cameras on board, the lander didn't take any photos of Venus because the lens cover failed to pop off.