Luna 7
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| Organization: | Soviet Union |
| Major Contractors: | OKB-1 |
| Mission Type: | Planetary Science Lunar landing |
| Satellite of: | Moon |
| Launch: | October 4, 1965 at 07:55:00 UTC |
| Launch Vehicle: | Molniya 8K78 (4-Stage R-7 / SS-6) |
| Mission Highlight: | Lunar impact on October 7, 1965, 22:08 UTC 9.8° N - 47.8° W. |
| Mission Duration: | 3-days |
| On-orbit Dry Mass: | 1,504 kg |
| NSSDC ID: | 1965-077A |
| Webpage: | NASA NSSDC Master Catalog |
| Orbital elements | |
|---|---|
| Semimajor Axis: | n/a |
| Eccentricity: | n/a |
| Inclination: | n/a |
| Orbital Period: | n/a |
| Aposelene: | n/a |
| Periselene: | n/a |
| Orbits: | Lunar impact |
| Instruments | |
| Close-Up Lunar Surface Photography : | Lunar photography |
Luna 7 (E-6 series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 7. The Luna 7 spacecraft was intended to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. However, due to premature retrofire and cutoff of the retrorockets, the spacecraft impacted the lunar surface in Oceanus Procellarum.
Unlike its predecessors, Luna 7 successfully carried out its midcourse correction on October 5 on the way to the Moon, in anticipation of a soft-landing two days later. Unfortunately, immediately prior to planned retro-fire during the approach to the lunar surface, the spacecraft suddenly lost attitude control and failed to regain it. Automatic programmed systems then prevented the main engine from firing. As controllers observed helplessly, Luna 7 plummeted to the lunar surface at a very high speed, crashing at 22:08:24 UT on October 7 west of the Kepler crater, relatively near the actual intended target. Impact coordinates were 9° north latitude and 49° west longitude. Later investigation indicated that the optical sensor of the astronavigation system had been set at the wrong angle and had lost sight of Earth during the critical attitude-control maneuver. It was the tenth consecutive failure in the Ye-6 program.
| Preceded by Luna 6 |
Luna programme | Succeeded by Luna 8 |
| Luna programme |
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| Luna 1958A | Luna 1958B | Luna 1958C | Luna 1 | Luna 1959A | Luna 2 | Luna 3 | Luna 1960A | Luna 1960B | Sputnik 25 | Luna 1963B | Luna 4 | Luna 1964A | Luna 1964B | Cosmos 60 | Luna 1965A | Luna 5 | Luna 6 | Luna 7 | Luna 8 | Luna 9 | Cosmos 111 | Luna 10 | Luna 1966A | Luna 11 | Luna 12 | Luna 13 | Luna 1968A | Luna 14 | Luna 1969A | Luna 1969B | Luna 1969C | Luna 15 | Cosmos 300 | Cosmos 305 | Luna 1970A | Luna 1970B | Luna 16 | Luna 17 | Luna 18 | Luna 19 | Luna 20 | Luna 21 | Luna 22 | Luna 23 | Luna 1975A | Luna 24 | ||||
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