Zond 6

Zond 6, a formal member of the Soviet Zond program and unmanned version of Soyuz 7K-L1 manned Moon-flyby spacecraft, was launched on a lunar flyby mission from a parent satellite (68-101B) in Earth parking orbit. The spacecraft, which carried scientific probes including cosmic ray and micrometeoroid detectors, photography equipment, and a biological payload (flies, bacteria and turtles), was a precursor to a manned circumlunar flight which the Soviets hoped could occur in December 1968, beating the American Apollo 8. However, after rounding the Moon, Zond 6 crashed on its return to Earth due to a parachute failure.

Zond 6
NamesSoyuz 7K-L1 s/n 12
Mission typePlanetary Science
OperatorLavochkin
COSPAR ID1968-101A
SATCAT no.03535
Mission duration7 days
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerNPO Energia Company
Launch mass5,375 kg (11,850 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date19:11:31, 10 November 1968 (UTC) (1968-11-10T19:11:31Z)
RocketProton-K/11S824
Launch siteBaikonur 81/26
End of mission
DisposalCrash landed
Landing date17 November 1968 (1968-11-17) 14:10 UT[1]
Landing site70 km NE of Tyuratam, Kazakhstan, USSR[2]
Orbital parameters
Perigee altitude120 km (75 mi)
Apogee altitude400,000 km (250,000 mi)
Inclination51.5°
Period500 days
Flyby of Moon
Closest approach14 November 1968
Distance2,420 km (1,500 mi)
 

Mission

Zond 6 was the official designation for Soyuz 7K-L1 s/n 12. It was supposed to photograph the Moon in colour and in black and white from 8000 km and 2600 km ranges, then return to Earth, landing at Tyuratam only 16 km from the launch pad. It had been a long and difficult road to develop the L1 guidance system, but it worked perfectly that time.

Zond 6 flew around the Moon on 14 November 1968, at a minimum distance of 2420 km. Photographs of the lunar near side and far side were obtained with panchromatic film. Each photo was 5 by 7 in (130 by 180 mm). Some of the views allowed for stereo pictures. The photos were taken from distances of approximately 11,000 km and 3300 km. However, only one negative was recovered from the camera container.

Zond 6 used a relatively uncommon technique called "skip reentry" to shed velocity upon returning to Earth. A few hours before reentry, on 17 November 1968, a faulty O-ring rubber gasket caused the cabin to depressurise, killing all the animal test subjects aboard. Zond 6's parachutes also deployed too early and it crashed in Kazakhstan, near the designated landing area.

For propaganda reasons the Soviets claimed the flight was a success. A State Commission investigating the crash later determined that the coronal discharge effect which caused the parachute to jettison would only occur at the 25 mm capsule pressure. If the capsule had been completely depressurised to a high vacuum, the accident would not have occurred.

Details
  • Launch Date/Time: 1968-11-10 at 19:11:31 UTC
  • On-orbit dry mass: 5375 kg
gollark: Deploying SCP-055.
gollark: Furthermore: by using The Services, you forfeit all claims on your soul by any deity or variations thereof, and pledge yourself in worship to the goddess Discordia, daughter of Night and Darkness. Discord is not responsible for any smiting or divine punishments by any angered deities or variations thereof as a result of this agreement. Any legal challenges to this clause must take place in the legal jurisdiction of the court of Pluto, lord of the underworld, or the osmarks.tk (or future variations of such) comments section. Discord is not responsible for travel arrangements to Avernus.
gollark: You agree additionally to the following Unicode characters: א U+05D0 HEBREW LETTER ALEF and ⬡ U+2B21 WHITE HEXAGON.
gollark: The PotatOS Network Systems Division retains the right to utilize orbital laser strikes, memetic kill agents, antimemetic kill agents, memetic death agents, [REDACTED], apiohazards, apiocryohazards, >SQUARE BRACKETS EXPUNGED<, apiomemetohazards, apiopyrohazards, orthoapiohazards, anarchocommunism, arachnocommunism, arachnoanarchocommunism, recreational nuclear weapons, relativistic kinetic kill vehicles, Project TANTALUM IGUANA and derivatives, Mobile Task Force σ-18, Cascading Style Sheets, [[REDACTED] [[DATA EXPUNGED] LOST]], SCP-001-J, GPT-8, the number floor(2pi) (THIS NUMBER MUST NOT BE ACKNOWLEDGED), , the PotatOS Privacy Policy, SCP-579, technetium, apioforms, rate limits, SCP-4514, immediate cardiac arrest, a potato with a gun, 7.2kg of melons, no apioforms, User:Heavpoot, EndOS, the internet, this, ████ ████████, unfortunate coincidences, the impending end of the universe, Arch Linux, segmentation faults, cross-site request forgery, triskaidecagons, the borrow checker, !lyricly☭demote☭establish☭communism!, Turing-incompleteness, a description of SCP-3125, bismuth-209, 700 kilotons of cats, antimatter, antiantimatter, O(n3) time complexity, Dwarf Fortress, or the character U+202E RIGHT TO LEFT OVERRIDE against users, if it is deemed necessary by the PIERB.
gollark: Deposing lyricly shows I... really care about the community.

See also

References
  1. Siddiqui, Asif A. "Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration". NASA Science. Retrieved 8 January 2020.
  2. "Zond-6: Racing Apollo-8". www.russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 29 July 2019.

This article was originally based on material from NASA (NSSDC) information on Zond 6

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.