Venus Express

Venus Express was the first Venus exploration mission of the European Space Agency, launched in November 2005 and arriving at Venus in April 2006, where it began continuously returning science data from a polar orbit. Equipped with seven scientific instruments, its main objective was the long term observation of the Venusian atmosphere over a period no earlier mission to Venus had achieved, helping build a better understanding of the planet atmospheric dynamics. The European Space Agency concluded the mission in December 2014.