December 15, 1970: Venera 7 lands on the surface of the planet Venus, the closest planet to Earth. The Soviet probe is the 1st man-made object from Earth to land on the surface of any of the solar system's other planets.
The Soviet space program launched it from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on August 17, 1970. The lander was designed to be able to survive pressure of up to 18 megapascals (2,600 psi) and temperatures of 1,076° Fahrenheit. This was significantly greater than what was expected to be encountered, but significant uncertainties as to the surface temperatures and pressure of Venus resulted in the designers' opting for a large margin of error.
The probe appeared to go silent on impact, but recording tapes kept rolling. A few weeks later, upon a review of the tapes by the radio astronomer Oleg Rzhiga, another 23 minutes of very weak signals were found on them. The spacecraft had landed on Venus, and probably bounced onto its side, leaving the medium gain antenna aimed incorrectly for proper signal transmission to Earth.
The probe transmitted information to Earth for 53 minutes, which included about 20 minutes from the surface. It was found that the temperature at the surface of Venus was 475° Celsius. Using the temperature, and models of the atmosphere, a pressure of 9.0 MPa (1,300 psi) was calculated.
In those 53 minutes, the probe still managed to provide information about the surface of Venus, which could not be seen through a thick veil of atmosphere. The spacecraft confirmed that humans cannot survive on the surface of Venus. It excluded the possibility that there is any liquid water on the planet.
So Venera 7 didn't manage to do its job for long, but it did enough of its job to justify later Soviet missions. Venera 8 landed on March 27, 1972, and is considered the 1st fully successful landing of an Earth probe on another planet. It would be followed by Venera 9 and 10 in 1975, Venera 11 and 12 in 1978, Venera 13 and 14 in 1981, Venera 15 and 16 in 1983, and Vega 1 and 2 in 1984.
It would take until February 5, 1974, with the American probe Mariner 10, for the 1st close-up photographs of Venus to be sent back to Earth. Even more detailed photos were sent back by the American probe Pioneer Venus in 1979.
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December 15, 1970 was a Tuesday. Baseball was out of season. Football was in midweek. There were 6 games played in the NBA:
* The New York Knicks beat the Cleveland Cavaliers, 110-92 at Madison Square Garden.
* The Philadelphia 76ers beat the San Diego Rockets, 122-98 at The Spectrum in Philadelphia.
* The Buffalo Braves beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 113-111 in overtime at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.
* The Chicago Bulls beat the Baltimore Bullets, 115-97 at the Chicago Stadium. Bob Love scored 37 points.
* The San Francisco Warriors beat the Phoenix Suns, 129-123 at the Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Phoenix.
* And the Detroit Pistons beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 111-103 at the Portland Memorial Coliseum.
There were 2 games in the American Basketball Association. The Memphis Pros beat the Texas Chaparrals, 146-141 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis. And the Denver Rockets beat the Carolina Cougars, 126-116 at the Auditorium Arena in Denver.
And there were 2 games in the NHL. The St. Louis Blues beat the Minnesota North Stars, 2-1 at the St. Louis Arena. And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 3-2 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.
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