Luna 6
Luna 6 — a Soviet soft-landing attempt undone by a wrong command (launched 8 June 1965). During its course correction the main engine failed to shut off and burned all its propellant, sending it 161,000 km past the Moon on 11 June. Controllers ran the landing sequence anyway as a rehearsal. Contact was lost about 600,000 km from Earth; it presumably went into orbit around the Sun.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- OKB-1 (USSR)
- Launched
- June 8, 1965
- Status
- Lost
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.995 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 7,066,398 km
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.285 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Luna 6 was lost to a single wrong command. Launched on 8 June 1965 as the next Soviet attempt at a soft landing on the Moon, it was on course until its mid-course correction on 9 June, when its main engine failed to shut off and burned until its propellant was gone. An erroneous command sent from the ground to the engine's timer was to blame, and the burn put Luna 6 on a path that would miss the Moon completely. Rather than write the flight off, controllers used it as a rehearsal: they put the spacecraft through every step of a landing, separating the lander and inflating its airbags, as though the surface were beneath it. It passed the Moon at a distance of 161,000 km on 11 June. Contact was lost about 600,000 km from Earth, and Luna 6 presumably went into orbit around the Sun. The Ye-6 was nearly ready: after two more crashes, Luna 9 landed safely in February 1966.
- 1965Launch toward the MoonLaunch
The next Ye-6 soft-landing attempt.
- 1965The engine will not stopMilestone
During the course correction the main engine burns all its propellant, and Luna 6 will now miss the Moon.
Controllers run the whole landing sequence as a rehearsal while it flies past.
Images
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