A Soviet spacecraft entered the atmosphere of Venus on this day in 1969 - allowing the USSR to take lead in space race just two months before America landed men on the moon. The effort by the communist superpower, which had been competing with its great capitalist rival to notch up as many cosmic firsts since 1957, astounded the world. At this point, the U.S. had not even come close to the Soviet feat of landing an unmanned craft on the planet 23million miles from Earth. Read more
The Soviet Venera 6 spacecraft was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (69-002C) on January 10, 1969 towards Venus to obtain atmospheric data. The spacecraft began its descent into the atmosphere of Venus on the 17th May, 1969.