the orbiter consisted of a cylinder with two solar panel wings and a high gain parabolic antenna attached to the curved surface. a bell-shaped unit holding propulsion systems was attached to the bottom of the cylinder, and mounted on top was a 2.4 meter sphere which held the landers. to reach venus, the spacecraft traveled in a heliocentric orbit from earth to the planet with perihelion of 0.72 au, apohelion of 1.02 au, eccentricity of 0.17, inclination of 2.3 degrees and orbital period of 294 days.