60 years since humanity touched the surface of another planet

It is 60 years since humanity first got up close and personal with another planet, with the impact of the Soviet Union's Venera 3.

An impact wasn't the primary objective of Venera 3. The plan had been for the probe to descend by parachute, sampling the planet's atmosphere as it went. However, a failure meant that Venera 3 never sent back any data and instead struck the surface.

Venera 3 was officially the third mission to Venus. Venera 1, an impactor, missed Venus in 1961. After several failures, Venera 2, a flyby mission, managed to make it to the planet, but contact was lost, and data the spacecraft's instruments should have recorded was not received on Earth.

Launched on a Molniya rocket on November 16, 1965, Venera 3 was more ambitious than its predecessors. It would conduct a flyby and also release a lander to descend ...