Venera 1

Venera 1

Mockup of the Venera 1 spacecraft
Mission type	Venus impactor
Operator	OKB-1
Harvard designation	1961 Gamma 1
COSPAR ID	1961-003A
SATCAT no.	80
Mission duration	7 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	1VA No.2
Manufacturer	OKB-1
Launch mass	6,424.0 kilograms (14,162.5 lb)
Dry mass	643.5 kilograms (1,419 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	February 12, 1961, 00:34:36 (1961-02-12UTC00:34:36Z) UTC
Rocket	Molniya 8K78
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Last contact	19 February 1961 (1961-02-20)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Heliocentric
Eccentricity	0.173
Perihelion altitude	0.718 AU
Aphelion altitude	1.019 AU
Inclination	0.58°
Period	311 days
Flyby of Venus
Closest approach	19 May 1961
Distance	100,000 km (62,000 mi)
Venera ← Tyazhely Sputnik Venera 2MV-1 No.1 →

Venera 1 (Russian: Венера-1 meaning Venus 1), also known as Venera-1VA No.2 and occasionally in the West as Sputnik 8 was the first spacecraft to perform an interplanetary flight and the first to fly past Venus, as part of the Soviet Union's Venera program.^[1] Launched in February 1961, it flew past Venus on 19 May of the same year; however, radio contact with the probe was lost before the flyby, resulting in it returning no data.