The US didn't win the space race btw.
I've been on a kick reading about old school space exploration and was surprised to find this out. The picture looks comparable to the Mars rover, and had to travel over double the distance to get there.
Knowing what we know now, there could absolutely be new life on places like this, but we'll never know because where's the capital
source!?: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_missions_to_Venus
History of the Venus Landers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera
I know what you mean but I almost find the familiarity weird... it's like what you said but in combination with the fact that I can still recognize rocks, dirt, little hills, and a sky. It's so alien but it's still a place in a way that the middle of space or inside the sun isn't.
it looks like shadowmoon valley from the burning crusade