Vega 1 Lander/Balloon capsule entered the Venusian atmosphere June 11, 1985. It had been launched December 15, 1984 from Baikonur in Kazakhstan. The Vega 1 space probe continued on to rendezvous with Halley's Comet, while the lander/balloon capsule was to study the planet.
The balloon probe and the lander separated in the upper atmosphere. The lander touched down successfully on the Mermaid Plain inside the Aphrodite Terra. Unfortunately, the lander experienced severe turbulence on its descent, which caused some of the surface experiments to activate early. As a result, only the mass spectrometer was able to transmit data.
The balloon traveled about 30% around the planet, continuing to transmit data during the day. It stopped sending signals on June 13, so it is not known how far the balloon traveled after that point.
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