The Computer Vet Weblog

Check out these photos of the transit of Venus that happened earlier this week. Looks like some kind of sci-fi painting, but it’s the real thing.

Only a few spacecraft have returned pictures from the surface of Venus, all of them Soviet. In 1975 the twin Venera 9 and 10 spacecraft landed and sent back pictures. A good rundown on that mission can be found on this page. Then in 1982, Venera 13 and 14 both landed and sent back color photos of the surface before being destroyed by the high heat and pressure. This page here has good-quality versions of all the pictures that were sent back, from all four landers. On the Wikipedia is an overview of the entire Venera mission, emcompassing 16 spacecraft over 22 years.