Venera 2

Venera 2

Mission type	Venus flyby[1]
Operator	OKB-1
COSPAR ID	1965-091A[2]
SATCAT no.	1730[2]
Mission duration	3 months and 15 days
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	3MV-4 No.4
Manufacturer	OKB-1
Launch mass	1,037 kg (2,286 lb)[3]
Start of mission
Launch date	12 November 1965, 05:02 (1965-11-12UTC05:02Z) UTC[4]
Rocket	Molniya-M
Launch site	Baikonur 31/6
End of mission
Disposal	Spacecraft failure
Declared	4 March 1966
Last contact	27 February 1966 Shortly before flyby
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee altitude	205 km (127 mi)
Apogee altitude	315 km (196 mi)
Inclination	51.8°
Period	89.71 minutes
Flyby of Venus
Closest approach	27 February 1966, 02:52 UTC
Distance	23,810 km (14,790 mi)
Venera ← Kosmos 27 Venera 3 →

Venera 2 (Russian: Венера-2 meaning Venus 2), also known as 3MV-4 No.4 was a Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Venus. A 3MV-4 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, it failed to return data after flying past Venus.

Venera 2 was launched by a Molniya carrier rocket, flying from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.^[4] The launch occurred at 05:02 UTC on 12 November 1965, with the first three stages placing the spacecraft and Blok-L upper stage into a low Earth parking orbit before the Blok-L fired to propel Venera 2 into heliocentric orbit bound for Venus, with perihelion of 0.716 AU, aphelion of 1.197 AU, eccentricity of 0.252, inclination of 4.29 degrees and orbital period of 341 days.

The Venera 2 spacecraft was equipped with cameras, as well as a magnetometer, solar and cosmic x-ray detectors, piezoelectric detectors, ion traps, a Geiger counter and receivers to measure cosmic radio emissions.^[5] The spacecraft made its closest approach to Venus at 02:52 UTC on 27 February 1966, at a distance of 23,810 km (14,790 mi).^[2]

During the flyby, all of Venera 2's instruments were activated, requiring that radio contact with the spacecraft be suspended. The probe was to have stored data using onboard recorders, and then transmitted it to Earth once contact was restored. Following the flyby the spacecraft failed to reestablish communications with the ground. It was declared lost on 4 March 1966.^[5] An investigation into the failure determined that the spacecraft had overheated due to a radiator malfunction.^[5][6]

In March 2025, Abraham Loeb published a paper where he claimed that the asteroid 2005 VL₁ is the same object as Venera 2, arguing that the asteroid made its closest approach to Earth in November 1965 (around the same time that Venera 2 launched).^[7] However, this was quickly disproven by Federico Spada and Jonathan McDowell, where reconstructions of Venera 2's orbital trajectory does not match with that of 2005 VL₁,^[8] adding that the asteroid itself did not even made a close encounter with Venus in early 1966.^[9]

• List of missions to Venus