Editing Space Race (section)

==== Venus landings ====
In 1970, the Soviet Union's [[Venera#Venera 7|Venera 7]] marked the first time a spacecraft was able to return data after landing on another planet.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Venera 7 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-060A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> Venera 7 held a resistant [[thermometer]] and an aneroid [[barometer]] to measure the temperature and atmospheric pressure on the surface, the transmitted data showed 475 C at the surface, and a pressure of 92 bar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 7, The First Craft to Make Controlled Landing on Another Planet And Send Data From its Surface |url=https://www.amusingplanet.com/2021/12/venera-7-first-craft-to-make-controlled.html |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=www.amusingplanet.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 7 |url=http://weebau.com/satplan/venera%207.htm |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=weebau.com}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Plumbing the Atmosphere of Venus |url=http://mentallandscape.com/V_Lavochkin1.htm |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=mentallandscape.com}}</ref>

In 1975, [[Venera 9]] established an orbit around Venus and successfully returned the first photography of the surface of Venus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 9 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1975-050A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 9 descent craft |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1975-050D |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> [[Venera 10]] landed on Venus and followed with further photography shortly after.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venus - Venera 10 Lander |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/v10_lander_proc.html |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

NASA initiated the [[Pioneer Venus project]] in 1978, successfully deploying four small probes into the Venusian atmosphere on December 9, 1978. The probes confirmed that Venus has little if any magnetic field, and cameras detected lightning in the atmosphere. The last transmissions were received on October 8, 1992, as its decaying orbit no longer permitted communications. The spacecraft burned up the atmosphere soon after, ending a successful 14-year mission that was planned to last only eight months.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pioneer Venus 1 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-venus-1/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=December 21, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1981, [[Venera 13]] performed a successful soft-landing on Venus and marked the first probe to drill into the surface of another planet and take a sample.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Venera 13 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1981-106D |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Surface of Venus |url=https://pages.uoregon.edu/jschombe/ast121/lectures/surface_venus.html |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=pages.uoregon.edu}}</ref> Venera 13 also took an audio sample of the Venusian environment, marking another first.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Drilling into the Surface of Venus |url=http://mentallandscape.com/V_Venera11.htm |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=mentallandscape.com}}</ref> Venera 13 returned the first color images of the surface of Venus, revealing an orange-brown flat bedrock surface covered with loose [[regolith]] and small flat thin angular rocks.<ref name=":4" /> [[Venera 14]], an identical spacecraft to Venera 13, was launched 5 days apart with a similar mission profile.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 14 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1981-110A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

In total ten Venera probes achieved a soft landing on the surface of Venus.

In 1984, the Soviet [[Vega program]]me began and ended with the launch of two crafts launched six days apart, [[Vega 1]] and [[Vega 2]]. Both crafts deployed a balloon in addition to a lander, marking a first in spaceflight.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vega 1 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1984-125A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Vega 2 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1984-128A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=In Depth {{!}} Vega 2 |url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/vega-2/in-depth/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=NASA Solar System Exploration}}</ref>

The US never caught up or matched the Soviet efforts to explore the surface of Venus, but did claim the title of the first successful probe to have flown by the planet and had notable success with the Pioneer atmospheric probes.