Zond 5
Zond 5 — the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and return to Earth (September 1968). It passed 1,950 km from the far side on 18 September carrying two steppe tortoises, insect eggs, seeds and plants; its capsule splashed down in the Indian Ocean on 21 September and the tortoises survived. Three months later, Apollo 8 carried the first people around the Moon.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- TsKBEM (USSR)
- Launched
- September 14, 1968
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 1 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 0.284 AU
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.324 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Zond 5 was the first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and come back to Earth. It was a 7K-L1, the ship built to carry two cosmonauts around the Moon, and three earlier attempts had failed. It left on 14 September 1968 carrying a biological payload: two steppe tortoises, fruit-fly eggs, seeds and plants, cells of wheat and barley, bacteria and algae. A star sensor was contaminated and failed, but controllers made a course correction with the backup sensors. On 18 September it swung around the far side of the Moon, 1,950 km away, and photographed Earth from about 90,000 km. On the way back a second sensor failed, which ruled out the planned guided re-entry over the Soviet Union. Controllers aimed it instead for a direct ballistic entry into the backup zone, and on 21 September it splashed down in the Indian Ocean, 32.6° S, 65.6° E, and was recovered. The tortoises survived, having lost about 10% of their weight. Three months later, Apollo 8 carried the first people around the Moon.
- 1968Zond 5 launches toward the Moon on a Proton rocketLaunch
With two steppe tortoises and other living things aboard.
The first spacecraft to fly around the Moon and head home.
The capsule is recovered; the tortoises survived.
Images
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