Editing Venera 1 (section)

==Failure==
During the first telemetry session, it was found that Venera 1 failed to enter the constant solar orientation mode, which led to a shortage of electrical power on board. While unfortunate, this was expected and in such a case the station had to conduct a rough orientation to the Sun and turn off non-vital systems. However, the radio transmitters had not been adequately designed and communication was shortly lost. The signal was regained on 17 February but it was still unable to lock onto the Sun properly and again went into protective mode and turned off the transmitter. Three successful telemetry sessions were conducted, gathering solar-wind and cosmic-ray data near Earth, at the Earth's [[magnetopause]], and on  February 19 at a distance of {{convert|1,900,000|km|mi|abbr=on}}. After discovering the [[solar wind]] with ''Luna 2'', ''Venera 1'' provided the first verification that this plasma was uniformly present in deep space. Seven days later, the next scheduled telemetry session failed to occur.  On May 19, 1961, ''Venera 1'' passed within {{convert|100,000|km|mi|abbr=on}} of Venus. With the help of the British radio telescope at [[Jodrell Bank]], some weak signals from ''Venera 1'' may have been detected in June. Soviet engineers believed that ''Venera 1'' failed due to the overheating of a solar-direction sensor.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|url=https://www.edn.com/venera-1-launches-toward-venus-february-12-1961/|title=Venera 1 launches toward Venus, February 12, 1961|website=AspenCore, Inc|access-date=2020-06-06}}</ref>