What was the first thing to land on Venus?

Venera 7
On December 15, 1970 an unmanned Soviet spacecraft, Venera 7, became the first spacecraft to land on another planet. It measured the temperature of the atmosphere on Venus.

How did the Soviets get to space first?

This competition gained public attention with the “Sputnik shock”, when the USSR achieved the first successful artificial satellite launch on October 4, 1957 of Sputnik 1, and subsequently when the USSR sent the first human to space with the orbital flight of Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961.

Why was the space race with the Soviet Union important to America?

During the Cold War the United States and the Soviet Union engaged a competition to see who had the best technology in space. The Space Race was considered important because it showed the world which country had the best science, technology, and economic system.

Did the Soviet Union land on Venus?

Venera 8 was the Soviet Union’s first fully successful mission to Venus. Landing on July 22, 1972, the probe operated a full 50 minutes, sending back data about the amount of light reaching the surface, as well as confirming the temperature and pressure data recorded by Venera 7.

When the Soviet Union did launched the first manmade satellite into orbit?

October 4, 1957
On October 4, 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik, the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth. The satellite, an 85-kilogram (187-pound) metal sphere the size of a basketball, was launched on a huge rocket and orbited Earth at 29,000 kilometers per hour (18,000 miles per hour) for three months.

What spacecraft launched by the Soviet Union began the space race?

Sputnik
With a single shot, the Soviet Union not only launched the first artificial satellite but also officially inaugurated a “space race” with the United States. Sputnik – sometimes called Sputnik 1 – went into space on Oct. 4, 1957.