This was the second of three 3MV spacecraft the Soviets attempted to launch toward Venus in late 1965. Venera 3 successfully left Earth orbit and released a small 0.9- meter-diameter, 337-kilogram (some sources say 310-kilogram) landing capsule to explore the Venusian atmosphere and transmit data on pressure, temperature, and composition of the Venusian atmosphere back to Earth during the descent by parachute. During the outbound trajectory, ground controllers successfully performed a midcourse correction on 26 December 1965 and completed 93 communications sessions. However, contact was lost on 16 February 1966, shortly before the Venusian encounter, although the spacecraft automatically released its sterilized lander probe, which landed inertly on the Venusian surface at 06:56 UT on 1 March 1966. It was the first time a humanmade object had made physical contact with another planetary body besides the Moon. Later investigation confirmed that Venera 3 suffered many of the same failures as Venera 2, such as overheating of internal components and the solar panels.
