Zond 7
Zond 7 — the first fully successful Soviet flight around the Moon and back (August 1969). It took colour photographs of Earth and the Moon, passed the Moon on 11 August — 1,200 km away according to NASA's history Beyond Earth, 1,985 km according to NSSDCA — and landed as planned in Kazakhstan on 14 August with four tortoises aboard.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- TsKBEM (USSR)
- Launched
- August 7, 1969
- Status
- Completed
Mission
Zond 7 was the first fully successful Soviet flight around the Moon and back, launched on 7 August 1969 — less than three weeks after Apollo 11 had landed. It was the last 7K-L1 built only for robotic flight. It carried four male steppe tortoises and a full-size mannequin to measure radiation. On the way out it took colour photographs of Earth, and on 11 August it passed the Moon, taking two more sets of colour pictures of Earth and the Moon. How close it came differs between the sources: 1,200 km according to NASA's history Beyond Earth, 1,984.6 km according to NSSDCA. Its main antenna failed to deploy, but everything else worked. On 14 August it made a guided re-entry and landed south of Kustanay in Kazakhstan, about 50 km from its target.
- 1969Zond 7 launches toward the Moon on a Proton rocketLaunch
With four tortoises and a mannequin to measure radiation.
Colour pictures of Earth and the Moon; the sources give different distances.
The first fully successful Soviet flight around the Moon and back.
Images
Images from open archives · credit shown per image