Zond 3MV-1 No.2
(or No. 4A
), also known as Venera 1964A in the West, was a
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, which was launched in 1964 as part of the
Zond program. Due to a problem with its carrier rocket third stage, it failed to reach
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 ...
.
Launch
Zond 3MV-1 No.2 was launched at 05:47:40 UTC on 19 February 1964, atop a
Molniya Molniya (Russian for ''lightning'') may refer to:
* Molniya (satellite), a Soviet military communications satellite
** Molniya orbit
* Molniya (explosive trap), a KGB explosive device
* Molniya (rocket), a variation of the Soyuz launch vehicle
* OKB ...
8K78M carrier rocket flying 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 ...
.
During ascent, LOX entered an RP-1 duct due to a leaking valve and formed a glob of explosive gel, so when core separation and Blok I ignition began, the thrust section exploded. The remains of the stage and probe landed 52 miles (85 kilometers) north of the town of
Barabinsk in Siberia.
See also
*
List of missions to Venus
*
Zond failed missions
Zond program (Зонд; Russian for "probe") was a Soviet robotic spacecraft program launched between 1964 and 1970, using two spacecraft series, one for interplanetary exploration, and the other for lunar exploration.
Program details
The pro ...
References
Zond program
Spacecraft launched in 1964
1964 in the Soviet Union
3MV
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