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Revision as of 04:45, 28 December 2019

File:Zond Assembly.jpg
An Image of a Zond/Cosmos Spacecraft being assembled

Zond program (Зонд; Russian for "probe") was a Soviet robotic spacecraft program launched between 1964 and 1970. The program had two series of spacecraft. The first series, based on the 3MV planetary probe, was intended to gather information about nearby planets. The second series of test spacecraft were intended as a precursor to crewed circumlunar loop flights, using a stripped-down variant of Soyuz spacecraft, consisting of the service and descent modules, but lacking the orbital module[1][2][3]

The Government of the Soviet Union suppressed failed space race missions information, to prevent bad publicity during the height of the Cold War. Since the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, much previously restricted information is now available.[4][5][6]

  • Zond failed missions:

[7]

Zond 1964A

Zond 1964A a SL-6/A-2-e rocket launched 4 June 1964, failed to achieve Earth orbit. The faulty was found to be a faulty valve, that failed 104 seconds after launch. On Zond 1964A was a Molniya-1 No.2 a Soviet communications satellite.[6]

Zond 1967A

Zond 1967A was launched on 28 September 1967. The Soyuz 7K-L1 No.4L rocket system was 11,465 IB (5,200kg). 60 seconds after launch the rocket fell off course. The escape tower took the Zond capsule safely away from the falling rocket. The rocket crashed 65 km downrange and ending the attempted Lunar flyby. The SL-12/D-1-e Proton launcher first stage had six engines. It has found that a fuel line of one engine was blocked by a rubber plug which had come loose. Had the mission been successful this would have been Zond 4.[6]

Zond 1967B

Zond 1967B launched on 22 November 1967. The Soyuz 7K-L1 No.5L rocket system was 11,465 IB (5,200kg). The second stage failure and the rocket crashed 300 km downrange. The automatic system shutdown the other engines. Zond capsule separated with the escape tower and was safely recovered. The attempted Lunar flyby mission fail. Had the mission been successful this would have been Zond 4.[6]

Zond 1968A

Zond 1968A was launched on 23 April 1968, the Zond was on a Soyuz 7K-L1. The rocket system was 12,300 lb (5,600kg). The Proton K rocket exploded 4 minutes and 30 seconds after launch. Had the mission been successful this would have been Zond 4. The second stage rocket failed 260 seconds after The rocket failure ended the attempted Lunar flyby. The fault was found to be in the control system, a short circuit, that caused engine 2 of the SL-12/D-1-e second stage to shut down. Had the mission been successful this would have been Zond 5.[6]

Zond 1968B

Zond 1968B was planned to be launched in July of 1968 of Zond 7K-L1 s/n 8L. While preparing for launched Block D the second-stage rocket exploded. The launchpad explosion killed three workers. The Proton first-stage booster rocket and the Zond spacecraft had only minor damage. Had the mission been successful this would have been Zond 7.[6]

Zond 1969A

Zond 1969A was launched on 20 January 1969, was to be a lunar flyby and return to Earth with pictures. One engine of the SL-12/D-1-e second stage shut down 25 seconds early. The put the craft into an emergency system shutdown and aborted the flight. The escape tower fired and the Zond craft was returned to Earth safely. Had the mission been successful this would have been Zond 7. The rocket system was 12,300 lb (5,600kg).[6]

Zond L1S-1

Zond L1S-1 failed on 21 February 1969, this was the first launch of the N-1 rocket engine. Just 66 seconds after liftoff the engine's turbopumps exploded..[8][9]

Zond L1S-2

Zond L1S-2 (Zond-M 2) mission was to be the second test of the N-1 rocket engine, moded SL-15/N-1. Zond L1S-1, the first test N-1 rocket, failed on 21 February 1969. The N-1 rocket was a super heavy-lift launch vehicle built to send a manned Soviet spacecraft to the Moon, like the US Apollo program.[10][11] L1S-2 - Zond-M 2 had a Zond capsule with landing site cameras and a test Soviet Moon lander. L1S-2 goal was to put the lander into lunar orbit. Zond L1S-2 launch on 3 July 1969 at 23:18:32 Moscow time. A few seconds after liftoff with the rocket at an altitude of about 180 meters the main engines shut down. The powerful N-1 rocket crashed back on to launchpad and exploded 18 seconds after liftoff. The massive explosion destroying the pad 110 East (110/38) at Baikonur Cosmodrome. The Zond escape tower fired and the capsule landed clear of launchpad 1km away. It was found that engine 8's oxygen pump failed and exploded. The explosion damaged the engines, which started the automatic shutdown of all engines. Two more tests of the N1 rocket failed: Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1 and Soyuz 7K-LOK No.1. With the four failures, the N-1 noon program was canceled. [6] [12][13][14] NASA used the Saturn V rocket for lunar missions, a super lift rocket like the N-1.

Flight number Date (UTC) Launch site Serial no. Payload Outcome Remarks
1 21 February 1969
09:18:07 		Baikonur Site 110/38 3L Zond L1S-1 Failure
2 3 July 1969
20:18:32 		Baikonur Site 110/38 5L Zond L1S-2 Failure Destroyed launch pad 110 East
3 26 June 1971
23:15:08 		Baikonur Site 110/37 6L Soyuz 7K-L1E No.1 Failure
4 23 November 1972
06:11:55 		Baikonur Site 110/37 7L Soyuz 7K-LOK No.1 Failure

Cosmos 154

  • Cosmos 154 failed to go into the planned translunar trajectory. The rocket system was 12,300 lb (5,600kg). Cosmos 154 was one of the first Zond attempts.[6]

Zond 3MV-1 No.2

Zond 3MV-1 No.2 luanched 19 February 1964 exploded on the pad.

See also

References

  1. ^ Very detailed information about the Soyuz 7K-L1 used in Zond 4-8
  2. ^ Radios in Zond spacecraft
  3. ^ Exploring the Moon: the Zond Missions
  4. ^ forbes.com, This Is Why The Soviet Union Lost 'The Space Race' To The USA, Ethan Siegel, Jul 11, 2019
  5. ^ history.com, The Space Race, Nov 14, 2019
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i GOV, NASA. NASA Tentatively Identified Missions and Launch Failures. NASA.
  7. ^ braeunig.us, LUNAR SPACECRAFT (Unmanned)
  8. ^ "Tentative IDs". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  9. ^ "N1 No. 3L launch". www.russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  10. ^ "Tentative IDs". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  11. ^ "N1 No. 3L launch". www.russianspaceweb.com. Retrieved 2019-09-24.
  12. ^ "Nositel N-1 Launch Vehicle". myspacemuseum.com/n1.htm. spacey@interaxs.net. Retrieved 20 November 2019.
  13. ^ Harford, James (1997). Korolev : how one man masterminded the Soviet drive to beat America to the moon. New York; Chichester: Wiley. p. 300. ISBN 9780471327219.
  14. ^ Wade, Mark. "N1 7L State Commission". astronautix.com. © 1997-2017 Mark Wade. Retrieved 18 October 2019.
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