Venera 2 (manufacturer's designation: 3MV-4) was a probe in the Soviet

Soviet space program

The Soviet space program is the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991...

 Venera program for the exploration of Venus

Venus

Venus is the second planet from the Sun, orbiting it every 224.7 Earth days. The planet is named after Venus, the Roman goddess of love and beauty. After the Moon, it is the brightest natural object in the night sky, reaching an apparent magnitude of −4.6, bright enough to cast shadows...

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• Launch Date/Time: 1965 November 12 at 05:02:00 UTC
• On-orbit Dry Mass: 963 kg

Venera 2 was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (65-091B) towards the planet Venus and carried a TV system and scientific instruments. On February 27, 1966, the spacecraft passed Venus at a distance of 24,000 km and entered a heliocentric orbit

Orbit

In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...

. The spacecraft system had ceased to operate before the planet was reached and returned no data.