image of Venus with detailed surface features

Venus: Exploration

Dozens of spacecraft have launched for Venus, but not all have been successful. NASA's Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to visit any planet beyond Earth when it flew past Venus on Dec. 14, 1962. NASA will launch two missions to Venus in the next decade, and ESA will launch one.

All NASA Science Missions

PLANET Location

Inner Solar System

FIRST NASA MISSION

Mariner 2

TOTAL MISSIONS

40+

FUTURE MISSIONS

A long cylindrical spacecraft with an antenna dish on one end emerges from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle.

NASA's Magellan spacecraft is deployed from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in 1989. Magellan was the first planetary spacecraft launched from a space shuttle.

NASA

Exploring the surface of Venus is difficult because of the intense heat and crushing air pressure. The longest any spacecraft has survived on the surface is a little over two hours – a record set by the Soviet Union's Venera 13 probe in 1981.

Featured Missions to Venus

More than 40 missions have been launched to explore Venus.

Akatsuki

Akatsuki is Japan's first mission to explore Venus. It launched May 21, 2010, and is the only active mission at Venus.

Two men hold up a more than 20-foot-long strip of paper containing Venus science data.

Mariner 2

Mariner 2 became the first successful mission to another planet when it flew by Venus on Dec. 14, 1962.

Pioneer Venus 1

Pioneer Venus 1 launched on May 20, 1978, and was the first American spacecraft to orbit Venus.

Magellan

NASA's Magellan launched May 4, 1989, and was the first spacecraft to image the entire surface of Venus.

Venus Express

Venus Express launched Nov. 9, 2005, and was the first European spacecraft to orbit Venus.

Artist concept of space probe descending to Venus

DAVINCI

This future NASA mission will study Venus from near the top of the clouds to the planet’s surface.

VERITAS

VERITAS will be among the first NASA spacecraft to explore Earth’s sister planet Venus since the 1990s.

EnVision

EnVision is an ESA Venus orbiter set to launch in the early 2030’s, to study the planet’s history, activity and climate.

Launch Date	Spacecraft	Nation	Type	Outcome
Feb 4, 1961	1VA/1	USSR	Impact	Failure
Feb 12, 1961	1VA/2	USSR	Impact	Failure
Jul 22, 1962	Mariner 1	USA	Impact	Failure
Aug 27, 1962	Mariner 2	USA	Flyby	Success-First
Sep 1, 1962	2MV-1/4	USSR	Impact	Failure
Sep 12, 1962	2MV-2/1	USSR	Impact	Failure
Feb 19, 1964	3MV-1A	USSR	Flyby	Failure
Mar 27, 1964	Kosmos 27	USSR	Impact	Failure
Apr 2, 1964	Zond 1	USSR	Flyby	Failure
Nov 12, 1965	Venera 2	USSR	Flyby	Success
Nov 16, 1965	Venera 3	USSR	Impact	Success-First
Nov 23, 1965	Kosmos 96	USSR	Impact	Success
Jun 12, 1965	Venera 4	USSR	Atmospheric Probe	Success-First
Jun 14, 1965	Mariner 5	USA	Flyby	Success
Jun 14, 1967	Kosmos 167	USSR	Impact	Failure
Jan 5, 1969	Venera 5	USSR	Atmospheric Probe	Success
Jan 10, 1969	Venera 6	USSR	Atmospheric Probe	Success
Aug 17,1970	Venera 7	USSR	Lander	Success-First
Aug 22, 1970	Kosmos 359	USSR	Lander	Failure
Mar 27, 1972	Venera 8	USSR	Lander	Success
Mar 31, 1972	Kosmos 482	USSR	Lander	Failure
Nov 3, 1973	Mariner 10	USA	Flyby	Success
Jun 8, 1975	Venera 9	USSR	Orbiter/Lander	Success-First
Jun 14, 1975	Venera 10	USSR	Orbiter/Lander	Success-First
May 20, 1978	Pioneer Venus 1	USA	Orbiter	Success
Aug 8, 1978	Pioneer Venus 2	USA	Impact	Success
Sep 9, 1978	Venera 11	USSR	Lander	Success
Sep 14, 1978	Venera 12	USSR	Lander	Success
Oct 30, 1981	Venera 13	USSR	Lander	Success
Nov 4, 1983	Venera 14	USSR	Lander	Success
Jun 2, 1983	Venera 15	USSR	Orbiter	Success
Jun 7, 1983	Venera 16	USSR	Orbiter	Success
Dec 14, 1984	Vega 1	USSR	Lander	Success
Dec 21, 1983	Vega 2	USSR	Lander	Success
May 4, 1989	Magellan	USA	Orbiter	Success-First
Oct 18, 1989	Galileo	USA	Flyby	Success
Oct 15, 1997	Cassini	USA	Flyby (multiple)	Success
Nov 9, 2005	Venus Express	ESA	Orbiter	Success
May 20, 2010	Akatsuki	Japan	Orbiter	Success
May 20, 2010	Shin'en	Japan	Encounter	Partial Success
May 20, 2010	IKAROS	Japan	Flyby	Success
Aug 12, 2018	Parker Solar Probe	USA	Flyby (multiple)	Success
Oct 20, 2018	BepiColombo	ESA/JAXA	Flyby (multiple)	Success