Vega 1

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Vega 1 (along with its twin Vega 2) was a Soviet space probe, part of the Vega program. The spacecraft was a development of the earlier Venera craft. They were designed by Babakin Space Centre and constructed as 5VK by Lavochkin at Khimki. The name VeGa (ВеГа) combines the first two letters from the Russian words for Venus (Венера: "Venera") and Halley (Галлея: "Galleya"). The craft was powered by twin large solar panels and instruments included an antenna dish, cameras, spectrometer, infrared sounder, magnetometers (MISCHA), and plasma probes. The 4,840 kg (10,670 lb) craft was launched by a Proton-K rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Tyuratam, Kazakh SSR. Both Vega 1 and 2 were three-axis stabilized spacecraft. The spacecraft were equipped with a dual bumper shield for dust protection from Halley's Comet. The descent module arrived at Venus on 11 June 1985, two days after being released from the Vega 1 flyby probe. The module, a 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) sphere with a diameter of 240 cm (94 in), contained a surface lander and a balloon explorer, which would become the first man-made aircraft to fly on a planet besides Earth.