Zond-4 — launch
Date in UTC
Zond 4, part of the Soviet Zond program and an uncrewed version of Soyuz 7K-L1 crewed Moon-flyby spacecraft, was one of the first Soviet experiments towards crewed circumlunar spaceflight. It was launched to test the spaceworthiness of the new capsule and to gather data about flights in circumterrestrial space. It was the first Soviet spacecraft to possess a computer, the 34 kg Argon 11. The spacecraft was successfully launched by a Proton K/D rocket on 2 March 1968 into a 400,000 km apogee orbit 180 degrees away from the Moon. Because of the malfunction that occurred during the previous L1 attempt, the launch team felt they needed camera coverage of the first/second stage separation.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zond_4. Related NASA reference: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology.html#1968. 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
- Zond-4
- Organization
- Strategic Rocket Forces
- Vehicle
- Proton-K/D
- Location
- NIIP-5, Baykonur, Kazakstan
- Country
- SU
- Human involvement
- Uncrewed
- Outcome
- Successful
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 — Zond 4 (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/Zond_4 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Timeline of Space Exploration Missions 1957 to 2031 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA — Zond 4 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA NSSDCA — Zond 4 (opens in a new tab)