Mission Type: Lander
Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with second-generation upper stage + escape stage; 8K78M
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 31; Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), USSR
Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,180 kg
Spacecraft Instruments:
Bus:: 1) cosmic-ray detector; 2) solar wind detector; and 3) ultraviolet spectrometer
Lander::1) thermometer; 2) barometer; 3) radio altimeter; 4) photometer; 5) gamma-ray spectrometer; 6) gas analyzer; and 7) wind-speed recorder
References:
Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958-2000, Monographs in Aerospace History No. 24, by Asif A. Siddiqi

National Space Science Data Center, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Solar System Log by Andrew Wilson, published 1987 by Jane's Publishing Co. Ltd.

This was the sister craft to Venera 8 (launched four days earlier). Unfortunately, the spacecraft never left Earth orbit.

The Blok L escape stage's main engine prematurely cut off after only 125 seconds of firing due to a failure in the onboard timer. As a result, the spacecraft entered an elliptical orbit around Earth. Officially, the Soviets named the probe Kosmos 482 to disguise its true mission. The spacecraft reentered Earth's atmosphere in May 1981.