Kosmos 167 (russian: Космос 167 meaning ''Cosmos 167''), or 4V-1 No.311, was a 1967
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...
spacecraft intended to explore
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is sometimes called Earth's "sister" or "twin" planet as it is almost as large and has a similar composition. As an interior planet to Earth, Venus (like Mercury) appears in Earth's sky never fa ...
. A spacecraft launched as part of the
Venera programme, Kosmos 167 was intended to land on Venus but never departed
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an orbit around Earth with a period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial objects in outer space are in LEO, with an altitude never mor ...
due to a launch failure.
Beginning in 1962, the name
Kosmos was given to Soviet spacecraft which remained in Earth orbit, regardless of whether that was their intended final destination. The designation of this mission as an intended planetary probe is based on evidence from Soviet and non-Soviet sources and historical documents. Typically, Soviet planetary missions were initially put into an Earth parking orbit as a launch platform with a rocket engine and attached probe. The probes were then launched toward their targets with an engine burn with a duration of roughly 4 minutes. If the engine misfired or the burn was not completed, the probes would be left in Earth orbit and given a Kosmos designation.
[ ]
Spacecraft
The 4V-1 No.311 spacecraft was the second of two 4V-1 vehicles built and operated by
GSMZ Lavochkin, following
Venera 4.
[ ]
Mission
A
Molniya-M carrier rocket was used to launch the spacecraft. The launch occurred from
Site 1/5 at the
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome ( kk, Байқоңыр ғарыш айлағы, translit=Baiqoñyr ğaryş ailağy, ; russian: Космодром Байконур, translit=Kosmodrom Baykonur, ) is a spaceport in an area of southern Kazakhstan leased to R ...
at 02:36:38 GMT on 17 June 1967.
This mission was intended to be a Venus lander, similar in design to the Venera 4 spacecraft. The spacecraft became stranded in Earth orbit when its Blok VL, fourth stage (trans-interplanetary stage), failed to fire because the engine's turbopump had not been cooled prior to ignition, never departed its parking orbit, and was designated Kosmos 167. The spacecraft reentered on 25 June 1967.
It was deployed into a low Earth orbit with a
perigee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any ellip ...
of , an
apogee
An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. For example, the apsides of the Earth are called the aphelion and perihelion.
General description
There are two apsides in any ellip ...
of , an
inclination
Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a Plane of reference, reference plane and the orbital plane or Axis of rotation, axis of direction of the orbiting object ...
of 51.8° to the
equator
The equator is a circle of latitude, about in circumference, that divides Earth into the Northern and Southern hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, halfway between the North and South poles. The term can als ...
, and
orbital period
The orbital period (also revolution period) is the amount of time a given astronomical object takes to complete one orbit around another object. In astronomy, it usually applies to planets or asteroids orbiting the Sun, moons orbiting planets ...
of 89.2 minutes.
[ ] It would have received the next designation in the ''Venera'' series, at the time
Venera 5.
See also
*
List of missions to Venus
References
Spacecraft launched in 1967
Venera program
Satellite launch failures
Spacecraft which reentered in 1967
1967 in the Soviet Union
Space accidents and incidents in the Soviet Union
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