The Venera 7 was launched as part of the Venera program by the Soviet Union on August 17, 1970. It entered the atmosphere of Venus on December 15 of the same year. This spacecraft became the first to ever actually transmit data to Earth after reaching the surface of Venus. The capsule antenna was extended, and signals were returned for 35 min. Another 23 min of very weak signals were received after the spacecraft landed on Venus, probably because the antenna was not pointed correctly for strong signal transmission to Earth. The capsule was the first man-made object to return data after landing on another planet.

Venera 7 weighed 495 kilograms, or 1091 pounds.