Venera 2MV-1 No.1,^[2][1] also known as Sputnik 19 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft, which was launched in 1962 as part of the Venera programme.

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2MV-1 No.1

Mission type	Venus lander
Operator	OKB-1
Harvard designation	1962 Alpha Pi 1[1]
COSPAR ID	1962-040A
SATCAT no.	372
Mission duration	Launch failure
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	2MV-1
Manufacturer	OKB-1
Launch mass	890 kilograms (1,960 lb)
Power	watts
Start of mission
Launch date	25 August 1962, 02:18:45 (1962-08-25UTC02:18:45Z) UTC
Rocket	Molniya 8K78 s/n T103-12
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Decay date	28 August 1962 (1962-08-29)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth (achieved) Heliocentric (intended)
Eccentricity	0.00403
Perigee altitude	168 kilometres (104 mi)
Apogee altitude	221 kilometres (137 mi)
Inclination	64.9 degrees
Period	88.71 minutes
Epoch	25 August 1962 (1962-08-25)
Venera ← Venera 1 Venera 2MV-1 No.2 →

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Due to a problem with its upper stage it failed to leave low Earth orbit, and reentered the atmosphere a few days later.^[3] It was the first of two Venera 2MV-1 spacecraft, both of which failed to leave Earth orbit.^[1]

Venera 2MV-1 No.1 was launched at 02:18:45 UTC on 25 August 1962, atop a Molniya 8K78 carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.^[2] The first three stages of the rocket operated nominally, injecting the fourth stage and payload into a low Earth orbit. The fourth stage then coasted until one hour and fifty seconds after launch, when it fired its ullage motors in preparation for ignition. One of the ullage motors failed to fire, and when the main engine ignited for a four-minute burn to place the spacecraft into heliocentric orbit, the stage began to tumble out of control. Forty-five seconds later, its engine cut off, leaving the spacecraft stranded in Earth orbit.^[4] It reentered the atmosphere on 28 August 1962, three days after it had been launched.^[5][1]

The designations Sputnik 23,^[6] and later Sputnik 19 was used by the United States Naval Space Command to identify the spacecraft in its Satellite Situation Summary documents, since the Soviet Union did not release the internal designations of its spacecraft at that time, and had not assigned it an official name due to its failure to depart geocentric orbit.^[7]

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