A 3MV-4 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, it failed to return data after flying past Venus.

Venera 2 was launched by a Molniya carrier rocket, flying from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.

[4] The spacecraft made its closest approach to Venus at 02:52 UTC on 27 February 1966, at a distance of 23,810 kilometres (14,790 mi).

[2] During the flyby, all of Venera 2's instruments were activated, requiring that radio contact with the spacecraft be suspended.

The probe was to have stored data using onboard recorders, and then transmitted it to Earth once contact was restored.