After launch and following a four-month cruise to Venus, the descent vehicle separated from the bus and plunged into the Venusian atmosphere on 5 March 1982.

The quartz camera windows were protected by lens covers that popped off after descent, allowing Venera 14 to capture images of the surface.

By unfortunate chance, the lens caps came to rest at the exact point the probe was due to enter and analyse the soil.

The surface soil composition samples were determined by the X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, and were shown to be similar to oceanic tholeiitic basalts.

Telemetry was maintained by means of the Venera 14 bus in orbit, which carried signals from the lander's uplink antenna and then on to Earth.

[5] The spacecraft bus ended up in a heliocentric orbit where it continued to make observations in the X-ray and gamma ray spectrum.