00:00On this day in space. On December 24th, 1978, Venera 11 landed on Venus.
00:08Venera 11 was a robotic mission launched by the Soviet Union to explore Venus
00:12along with its sister spacecraft, Venera 12. Venera 11 launched in September of
00:171978, just five days before Venera 12. Three and a half months later, the
00:22spacecraft arrived at Venus and dropped off the lander. The descent took about
00:26an hour and Venera 11 made a soft landing on the surface at about 10.30 p.m.
00:31Eastern Time. The Venera spacecraft had instruments designed to study the
00:35planet's atmosphere and temperatures, as well as the chemical composition of its
00:38soil. It even carried a device called Groza that detected lightning on Venus.
00:43Although it did have cameras on board, the lander didn't take any photos of Venus
00:48because the lens cover failed to pop off. And that's what happened on this day in
00:52space.
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