Results: After a spate of partial successes and catastrophic failures, Zond 7 was the first fully successful Soviet circumlunar mission. The spacecraft was the last 7K-L1 vehicle manufactured explicitly for robotic flight—later models were equipped for crews. Like its predecessors, Zond 7 carried a set of biological specimens, including four male steppe tortoises that were part of a group of thirty selected for the experiment. After a mid-course correction on 8 August at a distance of 250,000 kilometers from Earth, the spacecraft successfully circled the farside of the Moon two days later at a range of 1,200 kilometers. Zond 7 performed color imaging sessions on 8 August (of Earth) and 11 August (two sessions of both Earth and the Moon). The only major malfunction during the mission was the non-deployment of the main parabolic antenna (due to a problem in the securing cables), but this did not prevent a fulfillment of all the primary goals of the mission. Zond 7 successfully carried out a guided reentry into Earth's atmosphere and landed without problem south of Kustanay in Kazakhstan about 50 kilometers from the intended landing point after a 6-day, 18-hour, 25-minute flight. Zond 7 (and Zond 8) carried on board a full-size human mannequin known as FM-2 to help study the effects of radiation and gravitational loads on various parts of the body during lunar-distance flights.
Pioneer
Nation: USA (47)
Objective(s): solar orbit
Spacecraft: Pioneer-E
Spacecraft Mass: 65.4 kg
Mission Design and Management: NASA / ARC
Launch Vehicle: Thrust-Augmented Improved Thor Delta (Thor Delta L no. D73 / Thor no. 540)
Launch Date and Time: 27 August 1969 / 21:59:00 UT
Launch Site: Cape Kennedy / Launch Complex 17A
Scientific Instruments:
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- three-axis magnetometer
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- cosmic ray telescope
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- radio propagation detector
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- electric field detector
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- quadrispherical plasma analyzer
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- cosmic ray anisotropy detector
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- cosmic dust detector
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- celestial mechanics experiment
Results: During launch of this Pioneer probe, at T+31 seconds, the hydraulics system of the first stage of the booster malfunctioned, eventually causing complete loss of pressure at T+213 seconds, only 4 seconds prior to main engine cutoff of the first stage. Although second stage performance was nominal, there was no way to compensate for the large pointing error introduced by the malfunctions in the first stage. With the booster veering off course, ground control sent a command to destroy the vehicle at T+484 seconds. Pioneer-E was the last in a series of probes intended for studying interplanetary space from heliocentric orbit. An additional payload on the Thor Delta L was a Test and Training Satellite (TETR C) to test the Apollo ground tracking network.
Kosmos 300 [Luna]
Nation: USSR (68)
Objective(s): lunar sample return
Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 403)
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,700 kg
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ imeni Lavochkina
Launch Vehicle: Proton-K + Blok D (8K82K no. 244-01 + 11S824 no. 403L)
Launch Date and Time: 23 September 1969 / 14:07:37 UT
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 81/24
Scientific Instruments:
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- stereo imaging system
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- remote arm for sample collection
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- radiation detector
Results: This was the third attempt to send a sample return spacecraft to the Moon (after failures in June and July 1969). On this attempt, the spacecraft successfully reached Earth orbit, but failed to inject itself on a trans-lunar trajectory. Later investigation indicated that the Blok D upper stage had failed to fire a second time for trans-lunar injection due to a problem with a fuel injection valve that had become stuck during the first firing of the Blok D (for Earth orbital insertion). As a result, all the liquid oxygen in the Blok D had been depleted. The Soviet press named the vehicle Kosmos 300 without alluding to its lunar goal. The payload decayed from orbit about four days after launch.
Kosmos 305 [Luna]
Nation: USSR (69)
Objective(s): lunar sample return
Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 404)
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,700 kg
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ imeni Lavochkina
Launch Vehicle: Proton-K + Blok D (8K82K no. 241-01 + 11S824 no. 404L)
Launch Date and Time: 22 October 1969 / 14:09:59 UT
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 81/24
Scientific Instruments:
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- stereo imaging system
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- remote arm for sample collection
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- radiation detector
Results: Exactly one lunar month after the failure of Kosmos 300, the Soviets launched another Ye-8-5 lunar sample return spacecraft. Once again, the spacecraft failed to leave Earth orbit. When the Blok D upper stage was meant to fire for trans-lunar injection, telemetry readings went off scale and communications were lost. There was apparently a programming failure in one of the radio-command blocks designed to command the Blok D to fire. The Soviet press merely referred to the probe as Kosmos 305. The spacecraft decayed over Australia before completing a single orbit of Earth.
<!-- image -->[Luna, Ye-8-5 no. 405]
Nation: USSR (70)
Objective(s): lunar sample return
Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 405)
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,700 kg
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ imeni Lavochkina
Launch Vehicle: Proton-K + Blok D (8K82K no. 247-01 + 11S824 no. 405L)
Launch Date and Time: 6 February 1970 / 04:16:05 UT
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 81
Scientific Instruments:
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- stereo imaging system
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- remote arm for sample collection
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- radiation detector
Results: This launch continued the spate of failures in the robotic lunar sample return program. On this fifth attempt to recover soil from the Moon, the Proton booster failed to deposit its payload in Earth orbit. An erroneous command shut down the second stage at T+127 seconds and the booster was destroyed. Subsequently, the design organization responsible for the Proton, the Central Design Bureau of Machine Building (TsKBM) headed by General Designer Vladimir Chelomey, implemented a thorough review of the Proton's performance with a simple (and successful) suborbital diagnostic flight on 18 August 1970 to verify corrective measures.
Venera 7
Nation: USSR (71)
Objective(s): Venus landing
Spacecraft: V-70 (3V no. 630)
Spacecraft Mass: 1,180 kg
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ imeni Lavochkina
Launch Vehicle: Molniya-M + Blok NVL (8K78M no. Kh15000-62)
Launch Date and Time: 17 August 1970 / 05:38:22 UT
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 31/6
Scientific Instruments:
Bus:
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- KS-18-4M cosmic ray detector
Lander:
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- GS-4 gamma-ray spectrometer
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- instrument for determining pressure and temperature (ITD)
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- DOU-1M instrument for measuring maximal acceleration during braking
Results: Venera 7 was one of a pair of spacecraft prepared by the Soviets in 1970 to make a survivable landing on the surface of Venus. The spacecraft were quite similar in design to Venera 4, 5, and 6 with a main bus and a spherical lander (now with a mass of 490 kilograms). Since the last mission, engineers had redesigned the landing capsule to withstand pressures up to 150–180 atmospheres and temperatures up to 540°C. Venera 7 successfully left Earth orbit using a slightly modified fourth stage (now called Blok NVL) and implemented two mid-course corrections on 2 October and 17 November. It began its Venus encounter operations on 12 December 1970 when the lander probe's batteries were charged up (using solar panels on the bus) and internal temperature lowered. At 04:58:38 UT on 15 December, the lander separated from the bus and entered the Venusian atmosphere at an altitude of 135 kilometers and a velocity of 11.5 kilometers/second. When aerodynamic drag had reduced velocity down to 200 meters/second at an altitude of 60 kilometers, the parachute system deployed (at 04:59:10 UT). The ride down was a bumpy one and it's possible that the parachute tore and ultimately collapsed before impact, which was at a velocity of 17 meters/second at 05:34:10 UT on the nightside of the Venusian landscape, about 2,000 kilometers from the morning terminator. Although transmissions appeared to have ended at the moment of landing, Soviet ground tracking stations recorded what at first proved to be unintelligible noise. After computer processing of the data, Soviet scientists discovered a valuable 22 minutes 58 seconds of information from the capsule—the first transmissions from the surface of another planet. Quite likely, the initial loss-of-signal occurred when the capsule tipped over on its side. Venera 7's data indicated a surface temperature of 475±20°C and a pressure of 90±15 atmospheres. The information was a good fit with previous Soviet and American estimates. Impact point was 5° S / 351° longitude at Tinatin Planitia.
Kosmos 359 [Venera]
Nation: USSR (72)
Objective(s): Venus landing
Spacecraft: V-70 (3V no. 631)
Spacecraft Mass: c. 1,200 kg
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ imeni Lavochkina
Launch Vehicle: Molniya-M + Blok NVL (8K78M no. Kh15000-61)
Launch Date and Time: 22 August 1970 / 05:06:08 UT
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 31/6
Scientific Instruments:
Bus:
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- KS-18-4M cosmic ray detector
Lander:
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- GS-4 gamma-ray spectrometer
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- instrument for determining pressure and temperature (ITD)
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- DOU-1M instrument for measuring maximal acceleration during braking
Results: This was the second of a pair of probes designed to land on Venus and transmit information back to Earth. In this case, after the spacecraft had reached Earth orbit, the main engine of the Blok NVL upper stage was late in igniting and then cut off early (after only 25 seconds) due to incorrect operation of a sequencer and a failure in the DC transformer in the power supply system. The payload remained stranded in Earth orbit, eventually reentering on 6 November 1970. The spacecraft was named Kosmos 359 by the Soviet press to disguise the failure.
Luna 16
Nation: USSR (73)
Objective(s): lunar sample return
Spacecraft: Ye-8-5 (no. 406)
Spacecraft Mass: 5,725 kg
Mission Design and Management: GSMZ imeni Lavochkina
Launch Vehicle: Proton-K + Blok D (8K82K no. 248-01 + 11S824 no. 203L)
Launch Date and Time: 12 September 1970 / 13:25:52 UT
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 81/23
Scientific Instruments:
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- stereo imaging system
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- remote arm for sample collection
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- radiation detector
A lifesize model of the Luna 16 lander at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow. Credit: Asif Siddiqi
<!-- image -->Results: Luna 16 was a landmark success for the Soviets in their deep space exploration program, being the first fully automatic recovery of lunar samples from the surface of the Moon. The success came after five consecutive failures. After an uneventful coast to the Moon (which included one mid-course correction), Luna 16 entered a roughly circular lunar orbit at 118.6 × 102.6 kilometers with a 70° inclination on 17 September, using its 11D417 propulsion unit (which consisted of a primary engine capable of 11 firings and a set of low-thrust engines). Two further orbital adjustments on 18 and 19 September altered both altitude and inclination in preparation for its descent to the Moon. The following day, when Luna 16 reached 13.28 kilometers altitude, close to perilune, it fired its main engine to begin its descent to the surface, using the DA-018 Planeta Doppler landing radar in conjunction with the Vega altimeter. After firing for about 270 seconds and descending down to 2.45 kilometers, Luna 16 went into freefall until the probe was at a height of 600 meters (falling at 700 meters/second) when the main engine fired again briefly, cutting off at 20 meters altitude. Two smaller engines then fired to reduce the landing velocity to a gentle 9 kilometers/hour. It had taken roughly 6 minutes from beginning of deorbit to landing, which occurred at 05:18 UT on 20 September, about 280 hours after launch. Coordinates were announced as 0°41′ S / 56°18′ E, in the northeast area of the Sea of Fertility approximately 100 kilometers west of Webb crater. Mass of the spacecraft at landing was 1,880 kilograms. Attempts to photograph possible sampling sites proved to be less than successful due to poor lighting, but less than an hour after landing, at 06:03 UT, an automatic drill penetrated into the lunar surface to collect a soil sample. After drilling for 7 minutes, the drill reached a stop at 35 centimeters depth and then withdrew its sample (largely dark grey loose rock or regolith) and lifted it in an arc to the top of the spacecraft, depositing the precious cargo in a small spherical capsule mounted on the main spacecraft bus. (Some of the soil apparently fell out during this procedure). Finally, at 07:43:21 UT on 21 September, the spacecraft's 512 kilogram upper stage lifted off from the Moon using the S5.61 engine developed by the Isayev design bureau. This ingeniously designed single-firing engine weighed 42 kilograms and generated 1,917 kgf thrust for a guaranteed 60 seconds. Three days later, after a direct ascent traverse with no mid-course corrections, the capsule with its 101 grams of lunar soil reentered Earth's atmosphere at a velocity of 10.95 kilometers/second, experiencing up to 350 g's deceleration. The capsule, weighing 34 kilograms, parachuted down 80 kilometers southeast of the town of Dzhezkazgan in Kazakhstan at 05:26 UT on 24 September 1970. Analysis of the dark basalt material indicated a close resemblance to soil recovered by the American Apollo 12 mission. The sample was found to be a mature mare regolith, with an abundance of fused soil and glass fragments, between 4.25 and 4.85 billion years old. The Soviets shared samples with representatives from France, the German Democratic Republic, and Iraq, among a number of nations. Based on images taken in 2009 and 2010, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) was able to more precisely identify the landing coordinates of Luna 16 as 0.5134° S / 56.3638° E.