People remember the Space Race mainly as the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union for the Orbit of, the Moon, and Mars. However, there was another celestial object that attracted the interest of scientists from both sides. It was Venus, a planet with a highly toxic atmosphere located between Mercury and Earth. Surprisingly, astronomers back then believed that Venus is habitable and that its atmosphere and climate are similar to Earth (Howell, 2019). However, a series of probes sent to the planet in the 60s showed that the environment on Venus is close to the Christian description of Hell (Howell, 2019). The ambition to colonize Venus quickly faded away, but the enthusiasm for the study remained.
So Soviet scientists launched a series of spacecraft to explore the surface of Venus in more detail in the 80s. According to Howell (2019), “Venera 13, a Soviet spacecraft, was the first lander to transmit color images from the surface of Venus” (para. 1). It is worth mentioning that Soviet astronomers experienced both successes and failures in transmitting any data from the toxic planet before the launch of Venera 13 (Howell, 2019). It was a significant achievement for both Soviet astronomers and the world scientific community.
I consider this event important for the history of space exploration because it was one of the first steps toward a complex study of surfaces of astronomical objects with extreme atmospheres. The case of Venera 13 showed that earthly materials are robust enough for extraterrestrial conditions and that the technological capabilities of humankind are sufficient to collect various data not only from the Moon. Venera 13 gives hope to astronomers and other scientists from the field of space exploration to study not only the surfaces of planets but also their depths.
References
Howell, E. (2019). Venera 13 and the mission to reach Venus. Space. Web.