Description : The spacecraft took 117 days to reach Venus with one mid-course correction on 6 April 1972. Before reaching Venus the probe interior was cooled to -15 degrees C.
Descent speed was reduced from 11 km/sec at entry to about 250 meters/s at 67 km altitude by aerobraking. The parachute opened in reefed mode at an altitude of 60 km, and a refrigeration system was used to cool the interior components. Venera 8 transmitted data during the descent from instrument turn-on at 50 km.
The probe confirmed the earlier data on the high Venus surface temperature and pressure (470 degrees C, 90 atmospheres) returned by Venera 7, and also measured the light level as being suitable for surface photography, finding it to be similar to the amount of light on Earth on an overcast day with roughly 1 km visibility. The first measurements of the surface regolith of Venus were returned, and a profile of the cloud layer, including detection of sulfuric acid, was made.

BA 264 - picture enhanced ?

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Space Event :

VENERA 8 (PROBE) · VENUS MISSION · MOLNIYA-M BLOK-MVL