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Soviet automatic interplanetary station "Venera-6" reached the planet Venus
On May 17, 1969, 127 days after launching from the Baikonur cosmodrome on a Molniya-M launch vehicle, the Soviet automatic interplanetary station (AMS) Venera-6 reached the planet Venus.
AMS Venera-6 was created at the Lavochkin Machine-Building Plant and was intended to deliver a lander to study the physical parameters and chemical composition of the atmosphere of Venus. Simultaneously with Venera-6, a completely similar Venera-5 spacecraft was created, which was launched from Baikonur on a launch vehicle five days earlier, on January 5, 1969.
Venera-6 was launched on January 10, 1969 and reached the atmosphere of Venus on May 17, 1969, a day after the Venera-5 station. Descent vehicles separated from the AMC on parachutes, which for 50 minutes made measurements of temperature, pressure, illumination, plasma flows, the so-called "solar wind", and the chemical composition of the atmosphere. In total, more than 70 pressure measurements and more than 50 temperature measurements were made during the descent. The devices stopped transmitting data to Earth at an altitude of 18 km above the surface of the planet. By this time, the pressure exerted on them had reached a value of 27 atmospheres, which exceeded the permissible limit.
Measurements taken by the Venera-5 and Venera-6 spacecraft showed that the planet's atmosphere consists of 97 % carbon dioxide, 2% nitrogen, no more than 0.1 % oxygen, and that it also contains a small amount of water vapor. In addition, the measurements confirmed the assumption of Soviet scientists about the opacity of the atmosphere of Venus.
The AMS Venera-5 and Venera–6 flight programs were fully implemented. Despite the fact that they were unable to reach the surface of Venus, the information received from them allowed Soviet designers to create the next Venera-7 station, which landed on the surface of the planet for the first time in the history of Venus exploration on December 15, 1970.
Lit.: Автоматическая станция «Венера-6» // НПО Лавочкина [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://www.laspace.ru/ru/activities/projects/venera-6/; Прыжок к «русской планете». Что сумела увидеть «Венера-6» // История. РФ [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://histrf.ru/read/articles/pryzhok-k-russkoi-planietie-chto-sumiela-uvidiet-vieniera-6; 55 лет назад две советские межпланетные станции выяснили, чем дышат на Венере // Родина [Электронный ресурс]. URL: https://rodina-history.ru/2024/05/16/55-let-nazad-dve-sovetskie-mezhplanetnye-stancii-vyiasnili-chem-dyshat-na-venere.html.
Based on the materials of Presidential Library: