The planet Venus exerted a special pull on early astronomers and skywatchers. As the brightest object in the sky after the moon, it was mythologized, dreamed and observed since at least the Mayan times. When the space age came about, Russia and the United States competed to be the first to explore the planet named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty.On this day, March 1, 1966, the Russian Venera 3 space probe bound for Venus crash landed on the planet’s surface. Although designed to land intact, it was still a breakthrough for Russia – the first man-made spacecraft to reach the surface of another planet.

The Venusian atmosphere belies its beauty. Venera probes 4, 5 and 6 reached the planet’s outer atmosphere where they were swiftly broken up by pressure. Venera 7 was built to withstand pressures of 180 atmospheres and temperatures as high as 540 Celsius (1,000 degrees Farenheit). When it landed, it transmitted readings of around 475-degrees Celsius surface temperature and a pressure of 90 atmosopheres. Suffice it to say, from close-up, Venus is not a very beautiful or romantic place.