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During 1965 through January 1966, several significant Soviet unmanned scientific missions were launched. Five of the missions will be covered in this episode. We will begin with the Soviet Luna program.
Lunas 4-9 Model
Luna lander
Luna 9 Mock-up
Luna 5 Impact point.
Luna 8 Impact point.
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The Zond program was one of two lunar exploration programs conducted by the Soviet Union to investigate the Moon and its vicinity. The program began in 1964 and ended in 1979. The early Zond’s 1-3 were originally designed for planetary exploration, while the latter Zonds (4-8) were sent on circum lunar flights. Additionally, the latter Zond vehicles were of a totally different in design. They were in fact automated versions of the manned Soyuz spacecraft…
Zond 3
Far Side of the Moon
Venera 3
Asterix
Diamant
By Dave.
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In total Ranger 9 transmitted 5,814 good contrast photographs during the final 19 minutes of flight. The last image taken before impact had a resolution of 0.3 meters per pixel. The spacecraft encountered the lunar surface after 64.5 hours of flight. Impact occurred at 14:08:19 UT right on target in the Alphonsus crater. Impact velocity was 2.67 km/s. The spacecraft performance was excellent.
Ranger Block 3 Design
Ranger 8 Launch
First Ranger 8 Pic
Sea of Tranquillity
By Dave.
Rilles on Alphonus Crater
Intelsat I (Early Bird)
Delta-D with Intelsat I
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Gemini Launch Vehicle Two’s misfortunes during August and September 1964 forced NASA to forego its goal of a manned Gemini 3 flight before the end of the year, Gemini-Titan 2 was now scheduled for mid-November 1964, and Gemini 3 for the end of January 1965…
View from Gemini 2
Gemini 2
Gemini 2 Heat Shield
