Venus a 'Russian Planet', claims Moscow

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Planet Venus
Planet Venus

New Delhi : The head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency has declared that Venus is a 'Russian Planet', claiming that the country was the "first and only one" to land on the planet after a scientific study found signs of life.

"We believe that Venus is a Russian planet, so we shouldn't lag behind. Projects for missions to Venus are included in a draft of the unified state program of space activities of Russia for the period 2021-2030," said Dmitry Rogozin during a speech at the 2020 HeliRussia exhibition.

Dmitry also recalled that USSR was the only country to successfully launch Venus missions.

"I want to confirm that our country was the first and only one on Venus. Our spacecraft went there, gathered information about the planet, and – in general – it is like hell over there," he said.

The claims come after researchers in US and UK revealed that they have found signs of life on the planet. The presence of phosphine, a gas that on Earth is produced by bacteria inhabiting oxygen-free environments, in the atmosphere of Venus ignited suspicion on presence of life on the planet.

Since the collapse of the USSR, Russia has not independently launched a single successful interplanetary mission.