NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Success

Vega 1

Launch Time
Sat Dec 15, 1984 09:16 UTC

Rocket

Proton-K/Block D-1
RVSN USSR
Status: Retired
Liftoff Thrust: 9,468 kN
Payload to LEO: 19,000 kg
Payload to GTO: 9,000 kg
Stages: 4
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 56.14 m
Fairing Diameter: 3.9 m
Fairing Height: 10.4 m

Mission Details

Vega 1

A combined mission to Venus and Halley's comet. The whole spacecraft flew to Venus, the mothership got a gravity assist and flew on to Halley's comet while the Venus portion, consisting of a lander and a balloon, entered Venus's atmosphere. The two modules separated midflight and the lander went on to the surface while the balloon was inflated and reached a stable altitude between 53 and 54km. Due to excessive turbulence, some of the surface instruments were accidentally activated while still 20km above the surface.
The comet portion flew through the dust tail of the comet and took hundreds of pictures of the nucleus with various filters.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 4,920.0 kg
Heliocentric Orbit

Location

Site 200/39, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Stats

1984

125th orbital launch attempt

Proton-K

121st mission
12th mission of 1984
100th successful mission
24th consecutive successful mission