Venera 1 ( meaning
Venus 1), also known as
Venera-1VA No.2 and occasionally in the West as
Sputnik 8 was the first spacecraft to fly past
Venus, as part of the
Soviet Union's
Venera programme. Launched in February 1961, it flew past Venus on 19 May of the same year; however, radio contact with the probe was lost before the flyby, resulting in it returning no data.