Venera 9 was the first mission to return photographs from the surface of Venus.
The Soviet spacecraft reached Venus in October 1975. Its lander survived the planet’s crushing atmospheric pressure and extreme surface temperature long enough to transmit data and the first images from another planet’s surface.
Venera 9 measured conditions at the landing site and photographed a rocky landscape beneath Venus’s dense cloud cover. The images were significant because earlier missions had detected Venus’s environment but had not returned surface pictures.
Venera 7 had achieved the first successful landing and transmission from Venus in 1970, but it did not return photographs. Venera 10 followed Venera 9 and also transmitted surface images. These missions helped establish the Soviet Union as the leader in Venus surface exploration during the later Space Race.