Venera 13: mission and targets

Project start

October 30, 1981

Declared end

April 25, 1983

The start the archive declares is the start of the project, not the launch, and an end it does not declare does not mean the mission is still running.

Targets you can open in 3D:

• Venus

A declared target is what the archive files the mission’s data under, not a record of observation.

The Soviet Venera 13 mission returned the first color images and audio recordings from the surface of Venus. Along with the Venera 14 mission, it formed a pair of identical spacecraft, each comprising a flyby carrier bus and a descent craft (lander probe). Launched five days apart, the objective of the missions was to make in-situ studies of the Venus atmosphere and surface.

Quoted in English, as the archive publishes it, read on October 4, 2026.

• SOLAR WIND (plasma stream)

Identifier in the archive, which is its citation: urn:nasa:pds:context:investigation:mission.venera_13

NASA Planetary Data System, PDS Registry, investigation context products. Dates and targets read on September 29, 2026; how to cite the archive: https://pds.nasa.gov/datastandards/citing/

All missions