Diagram showing Luna 3’s trajectory out to lunar distance. Credit: https://bit.ly/2NkheZx
<!-- image -->The Yenisey "photo-television unit" on board Luna 3 was developed by the Leningrad-based VNII-380 institute. It included a dual-objective camera (AFA-Ye1) developed by the Krasnogorsk Mechanical Plant. The camera took two pictures simultaneously using a 200 mm lens and a 500 mm lens. Credit: T. Varfolomeyev
13 Able IVB [Pioneer]
- Nation: USA (6)
- Objective(s): lunar orbit
- Spacecraft: P-3 / Able IVB
- Spacecraft Mass: 168.7 kg
- Mission Design and Management: NASA / AFBMD
- Launch Vehicle: Atlas Able (Atlas Able no. 1 / Atlas D no. 20)
- Launch Date and Time: 26 November 1959 / 07:26 UT
- Launch Site: Cape Canaveral / Launch Complex 14
Scientific Instruments:
- high-energy radiation counter
- ionization chamber
- Geiger-Mueller tube
- low-energy radiation counter
- a flux-gate magnetometer and a search-coil magnetometer
- photo scanning device
- micrometeoroid detector
- aspect indicator (a photoelectric cell)
- radio receiver to detect natural radio waves
- transponder to measure electron densities
Results: This was the first of three spacecraft designed by Space Technology Laboratories for a lunar assault in 1959–1960; two of them had originally been slated for Venus orbit (in June 1959) but mission planners had redirected their missions after the success of the Soviet Automatic Interplanetary Station ("Luna 3") mission. All the scientific experiments and internal instrumentation were powered by Nickel-Cadmium batteries charged from 1,100 solar cells on four paddles which made the vehicle resemble the recently-launched Explorer VI. The imaging system, the same one used on Explorer VI, comprised a tiny 1.13-kilogram scanning device developed by STL that was "to be used in [an] attempt to get a crude outline of the moon's surface if the probe achieve[d] lunar orbit." Each probe also carried a hydrazine monopropellant tank with two thrust chambers (each 9 kgf), one of which was for lunar orbit insertion at a range of 8,000 kilometers from the Moon. Ideal lunar orbital parameters were planned as 6,400 × 4,800 kilometers. The mission also inaugurated the first use of the Atlas-with-an-upper-stage combination, affording increased payload weight. During this first launch, which took place on Thanksgiving Day 1959, the nose fairing began to break away just 45 seconds after liftoff, still during first stage operation. Aerodynamic forces then caused the third stage and payload to break away and explode. The ground lost contact with the tumbling booster at T+104 seconds. Investigation showed that the 3-meter fiberglass shroud failed because there had been no measures to account for pressure differentials as the rocket rapidly gained altitude after liftoff.
14 Pioneer V
- Nation: USA (7)
- Objective(s): heliocentric orbit
- Spacecraft: P-2 / Able 6
- Spacecraft Mass: 43.2 kg
- Mission Design and Management: NASA / AFBMD
- Launch Vehicle: Thor Able IV (Thor Able IV no. 4 / Thor no. 219/DM-1812-6A)
- Launch Date and Time: 11 March 1960 / 13:00:07 UT
- Launch Site: Cape Canaveral / Launch Complex 17A
Scientific Instruments:
- magnetometer
- ionization chamber
- Geiger-Mueller tube
- micrometeoroid momentum spectrometer
- omnidirectional proportional counter telescope
Results: Launched on a direct solar orbit trajectory, Pioneer V successfully reached heliocentric orbit between Earth and Venus to demonstrate deep space technologies and to provide the first map of the interplanetary magnetic field. The spacecraft had originally been intended for a Venus encounter but the mission was switched to a direct entry into solar orbit. Pioneer V carried Telebit, the first digital telemetry system operationally used on a U.S. spacecraft—it was first tested on Explorer VI. The system used a 5-watt or a 150-watt transmitter, with a 5-watt transmitter acting as driver. Information rates varied from 1 to 64 bits/second. Controllers maintained contact with Pioneer V until 11:31 UT on 26 June 1960 to a record distance of 36.4 million kilometers from Earth (later beaten by Mariner II). The probe, using its 18.1-kilogram suite of scientific instruments, confirmed the existence of a previously conjectured weak interplanetary magnetic field. Information from the magnetometer was unfortunately unusable due to the instrument's position within the spacecraft. Pioneer V remains a derelict spacecraft circling the Sun.
<!-- image -->15 [Luna, Ye-3 no. 1]
- Nation: USSR (8)
- Objective(s): lunar farside photography
- Spacecraft: Ye-3 (no. 1)
- Spacecraft Mass: [unknown]
- Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
- Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. I1-9)
- Launch Date and Time: 15 April 1960 / 15:06:44 UT
- Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 1/5
Scientific Instruments:
- photographic-TV imaging system
- micrometeoroid detector
- cosmic ray detector
Results: This spacecraft was launched to return more detailed photos of the lunar farside, after the spectacular success of Luna 3. The Ye-3 class vehicle was essentially a Ye-2A probe with a modified radio-telemetry system, but with the original imaging system. (A more advanced Ye-3 type with a new imaging system had been abandoned earlier). During the launch, the probe received insufficient velocity (too low by 110 meters/second) after premature third stage engine cutoff (3 seconds short). The spacecraft reached an altitude of 200,000 kilometers and then fell back to Earth and burned up in Earth's atmosphere, much like some of the early American Pioneer probes. The most likely reentry point was over central Africa.
16 [Luna, Ye no. 2]
- Nation: USSR (9)
- Objective(s): farside lunar photography
- Spacecraft: Ye-3 (no. 2)
- Spacecraft Mass: [unknown]
- Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
- Launch Vehicle: 8K72 (no. Ll-9a)
- Launch Date and Time: 19 April 1960 / 16:07:43 UT
- Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 1/5
Scientific Instruments:
- photographic-TV imaging system
- micrometeoroid detector
- cosmic ray detector
Results: This was the last of the "first generation" Soviet probes to the Moon. Like its immediate predecessor, it was designed to photograph the farside of the Moon. Unfortunately, the probe never left Earth's atmosphere. Instead, immediately after launch, at T+10 seconds, the launch vehicle began to fall apart (its Blok D strapon actually began separating 0.02 seconds after launch). As each strapon fell away, parts of the booster landed separately over a large area near the launch site, breaking up between 21.15 and 40.3 seconds of launch. Thundering explosions broke windows in many nearby buildings.
Image
17 Able VA [Pioneer]
- Nation: USA (8)
- Objective(s): lunar orbit
- Spacecraft: P-30 / Able VA
- Spacecraft Mass: 175.5 kg
- Mission Design and Management: NASA / AFBMD
- Launch Vehicle: Atlas Able (Atlas Able no. 2 / Atlas D no. 80)
- Launch Date and Time: 25 September 1960 / 15:13 UT
- Launch Site: Cape Canaveral / Launch Complex 12
Scientific Instruments:
- high-energy radiation counter
- ionization chamber
- Geiger-Mueller tube
- low-energy radiation counter
- two magnetometers
- scintillation spectrometer
- micrometeoroid detector
- plasma probe
- Sun scanner
Results: This probe, Able VA, had a slightly different instrument complement compared to its predecessor Able IVB (launched in November 1959), but had similar mission goals. Able VA was to enter lunar orbit about 62.5 hours after launch with parameters of 4,000 × 2,250 kilometers and a period of 10 hours. After launch, while the first stage performed without problems, the Able second stage ignited abnormally and shut down early because of an oxidizer system failure. Ground controllers were still able to fire the third stage engine, making this small STL-built engine the first rocket engine to successfully ignite and operate in space. Because of the second stage failure, the spacecraft failed to reach sufficient velocity and burned up in Earth's atmosphere 17 minutes after launch. Later, on 15 November 1960, NASA announced that two objects from the Able VA payload had been found in Transvaal, South Africa.
18 [Mars, 1M no. 1]
- Nation: USSR (10)
- Objective(s): Mars flyby
- Spacecraft: 1M (no. 1)
- Spacecraft Mass: 480 kg
- Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
- Launch Vehicle: Molniya + Blok L (8K78 no. L1-4M)
- Launch Date and Time: 10 October 1960 / 14:27:49 UT
- Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 1/5
The 4-stage 8K78 launch vehicle (and its various modifications) launched most Soviet lunar and planetary probes in the 1960s until the advent of the Proton booster in the late 1960s. Credit: T. Varfolomeyev
Scientific Instruments:
- infrared spectrometer [removed before launch]
- ultraviolet spectrometer [removed before launch]
- micrometeorite detectors
- ion traps
- magnetometer
- cosmic ray detectors
- Yenisey imaging system [removed before launch]
Results: This was the first of two Soviet Mars spacecraft intended to fly past Mars. They were also the first attempt by humans to send spacecraft to the vicinity of Mars. Although the spacecraft initially included a TV imaging system (similar to the one carried on Luna 3), a UV spectrometer, and a spectroreflectometer (to detect organic life on Mars), mass constraints forced engineers to delete these instruments a week before launch. A possibly apocryphal story has it that once removed from the spacecraft, the spectroreflectometer was tested not far from the Tyuratam launch site but failed to detect any life. The spacecraft itself was a cylinder, about a meter in diameter with all the basic systems required of interplanetary travel—a means to regulate temperatures, batteries charged by solar panels, a long-distance communication system, three-axis stabilization, and a mid-course correction engine (the S5.9). The mission profile called for the probe to first enter Earth orbit and then use a new fourth stage (called "Blok L") capable of firing in vacuum, to gain enough additional velocity for a Mars encounter. During the launch, violent vibrations caused a gyroscope to malfunction. As a result, the booster began to veer from its planned attitude. The guidance system failed at T+309.9 seconds and the third stage (Blok I) engine was shut down at T+324.2 seconds, after the trajectory deviated to greater than 7° (pitch). The payload eventually burned up in Earth's atmosphere over eastern Siberia without reaching Earth orbit. The Mars flyby had been planned for 13 May 1961.
19 [Mars, 1M no. 2]
- Nation: USSR (11)
- Objective(s): Mars flyby
- Spacecraft: 1M (no. 2)
- Spacecraft Mass: 480 kg
- Mission Design and Management: OKB-1
- Launch Vehicle: Molniya + Blok L (8K78 no. L1-5M)
- Launch Date and Time: 14 October 1960 / 13:51:03 UT
- Launch Site: NIIP-5 / Site 1/5
Scientific Instruments:
- infrared spectrometer [removed before launch]
- ultraviolet spectrometer [removed before launch]
- micrometeorite detectors
- ion traps
- magnetometer
- cosmic ray detectors
- imaging system [removed before launch]
Results: Besides a slightly uprated S5.9A main engine, this vehicle was identical to its predecessor, launched four days before. And like its predecessor, it never reached Earth orbit. During the launch trajectory, there was a failure in the third stage (Blok I) engine at T+290 seconds due to frozen kerosene in the pipeline feeding its turbopump (which prevented a valve from opening). The third and fourth stages, along with the payload, burned up in Earth's upper atmosphere over eastern Siberia. The Mars flyby had been planned for 15 May 1961.
20 Able VB [Pioneer]
- Nation: USA (9)
- Objective(s): lunar orbit
- Spacecraft: P-31 / Able VB
- Spacecraft Mass: 176 kg
- Mission Design and Management: NASA / AFBMD
- Launch Vehicle: Atlas Able (Atlas Able no. 3 / Atlas D no. 91)
- Launch Date and Time: 15 December 1960 / 09:11 UT
- Launch Site: Cape Canaveral / Launch Complex 12
Scientific Instruments:
- micrometeoroid detector
- high-energy radiation counter
- ionization chamber
- Geiger-Mueller tube
- low-energy radiation counter
- a flux-gate magnetometer and a spin-search coil magnetometer
- Sun scanner (or photoelectric cell)
- plasma probe
- scintillation spectrometer
- solid state detector