Tyazholiy Sputnik — launch
Date in UTC
Tyazhely Sputnik, also known by its development name as Venera 1VA No. 1, and in the West as Sputnik 7, was a Soviet spacecraft, which was intended to be the first spacecraft to explore Venus. Due to a problem with its upper stage it failed to leave low Earth orbit. In order to avoid acknowledging the failure, the Soviet government instead announced that the entire spacecraft, including the upper stage, was a test of a "Heavy Satellite" which would serve as a launch platform for future missions. This resulted in the upper stage being considered a separate spacecraft, from which the probe was "launched", on several subsequent missions.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_7. Related NASA reference: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology.html#1961. Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).
- Category
- Launches and Flight Tests
- Type
- Orbital launch
- Subjects
- Space transportation
- Mission
- Tyazholiy Sputnik
- Organization
- Strategic Rocket Forces
- Vehicle
- Molniya 8K78
- Location
- NIIP-5, Baykonur, Kazakstan
- Country
- SU
- Outcome
- Partially successful
Context and qualifications
Launch code: OF40. Source references: NK9701-29; NezavB. Power failed
Sources and attribution
- Jonathan McDowell — General Catalog of Artificial Space Objects (opens in a new tab) — Data from GCAT (J. McDowell, planet4589.org/space/gcat), CC BY 4.0. Adapted into anniversary records. (CC BY 4.0)
- Wikipedia — Sputnik 7 (opens in a new tab) — Adapted from Wikipedia contributors; selected sentences retained and edited for length, reference markers and pronunciation glosses. CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ Article and edit history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_7 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Timeline of Space Exploration Missions 1957 to 2031 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA — Sputnik 7 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA NSSDCA — Sputnik 7 (opens in a new tab)