Zond 4
Zond 4 — an uncrewed test of the Soviet two-seat ship for flying around the Moon, the 7K-L1 (launched 2 March 1968). It was sent more than 300,000 km out, away from the Moon, and back. Its capsule failed to hold its attitude for a guided re-entry and came in on a steep path over Africa, so its self-destruct system blew it up over the Gulf of Guinea on 9 March 1968. (Its orbit is shown representatively.)
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- TsKBEM (USSR)
- Launched
- March 2, 1968
- Status
- Lost
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.996 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 929,281 km
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.277 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Zond 4 was the first deep-space test of the 7K-L1, a stripped-down Soyuz built to carry two cosmonauts around the Moon. Rather than fly past the Moon, it was sent the other way, on 2 March 1968, to test the ship far from Earth without the Moon's gravity to complicate things. The Soviet news agency named it "Zond 4", tying it to earlier, unrelated probes and hiding what it was. It flew out to more than 300,000 km — NSSDCA gives 300,000 km, NASA's history Beyond Earth an apogee of 354,000 km. A star sensor failed and the first course correction was missed; a third attempt worked. But on the way home the capsule failed to hold a stable attitude for a guided re-entry and came in on a steep ballistic path. A crew would have felt about 20 g, according to Beyond Earth, and probably survived. It was falling toward an unplanned area, and to keep it out of foreign hands its self-destruct system destroyed it 10 to 15 km above the Gulf of Guinea on 9 March 1968. For years, official Soviet accounts said Zond 4 had gone into orbit around the Sun.
- 1968Zond 4 launches on a Proton rocketLaunch
A 7K-L1 ship sent into deep space, away from the Moon.
Coming in on a steep ballistic path, it is blown up over the Gulf of Guinea.
Images
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