Tags: Artificialsatellite, Satellite.
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 fly past Venus as part of the Soviet Union’s Venera programme. 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.