Venera 7 became the first spacecraft to land successfully on Venus in 1970.
The Soviet probe launched on 17 August 1970 and reached Venus on 15 December 1970. It entered the planet’s atmosphere, deployed a parachute, and transmitted scientific data from the surface for about 23 minutes. Venera 7 measured Venusian temperature at roughly 475 °C and detected the extremely high surface pressure.
Earlier probes had either failed during launch, lost contact, or been destroyed while descending through Venus’s dense atmosphere. Venera 7 was the first to survive the descent and send signals from another planet’s surface.
Venera 9 later returned the first images from Venus’s surface in 1975, so it is sometimes confused with Venera 7. Venera 7’s achievement was the first successful landing and transmission, not the first photograph.