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Seven missions that gave us our first real look at alien worlds

- By Giles Sparrow

It's half a century since humanity captured the first images from the surface of an alien world. Giles Sparrow explores the pioneering missions that have brought us face to face with our Solar System neighbours

This October marks 50 years since a heavily shielded spacecraft, the Soviet Union's Venera 9, parachuted into the atmosphere of Venus. Then, having landed, it did something extraordinary: it beamed back the first images ever captured from the surface of another planet. The pictures of its baking hot terrain marked a huge leap forward in our understanding of our nearest planetary neighbour.

But it was just one of many missions to revolutionise Solar System science. Space probes have now returned closeups of all the major planets, countless moons and many smaller objects. Some made flybys, while others stayed in orbit to conduct detailed surveys. Several landed. Some even drove across the alien surface. Here we recall some of those first encounters, the ingenious science and engineering they required, and the extraordinary images that reshaped our view of our corner of the cosmos.

Venera 9 on Venus: 53 minutes in hell

Venera 9 was the sixth spacecraft to brave Venus's thick, corrosive atmosphere, and built on lessons from earlier missions to survive the punishing descent and extend its survival on the hostile surface. Electronic video cameras were mounted on either side of the lander, but a jammed lens cap meant that only one was able to return images.