Description

This is the first photograph of the surface of Venus, taken from the Soviet Venera 9 spacecraft on 22nd October 1975.

Gelatin silver print, produced by the Keystone Press Agency, New York, with a label in French attached, dated 28th October, 1975.

Very good condition.

From the NASA website:

“Surface photographs from the Soviet Venera 9 and 10 spacecraft. The Soviet Venera 9 and 10 spacecraft were launched on 8 and 14 June 1975, respectively, to do the unprecedented: place a lander on the surface of Venus and return images. The two spacecraft successfully landed a descent craft on 16 and 23 October 1975. These images were obtained on 22 and 25 October 1975. Venera 9 landed on a slope inclined by about 30 degrees to the horizontal whereas Venera 10 was only inclined about 8 degrees. The two spacecraft were separated by about 2100 km. Most of the rocks in the images are between about 0.3 and 1 meter.”