Zond-7 — launch
Date in UTC
The Zond 7 spacecraft, part of the Soviet Zond program, was launched towards the Moon on a Proton-K D rocket on August 7, 1969. Its mission was to support studies of the Moon and circumlunar space, to obtain color photography of Earth and the Moon from varying distances, and to flight test the spacecraft systems. It was an unpiloted version of the Soyuz 7K-L1, a crewed Moon-flyby spacecraft. Earth photos were obtained on August 9, 1969. On August 11, 1969, the spacecraft flew past the Moon at a distance of 1984.6 km and conducted two picture-taking sessions. On its way back from the Moon, the spacecraft tested its radio systems by transmitting recorded voices.
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zond_7. Related NASA reference: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology.html#1969. 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-7
- Organization
- Strategic Rocket Forces
- Vehicle
- Proton-K/D
- Location
- NIIP-5, Baykonur, Kazakstan
- Country
- SU
- 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 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/Zond_7 (CC BY-SA 4.0)
- Timeline of Space Exploration Missions 1957 to 2031 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA — Zond 7 (opens in a new tab)
- NASA NSSDCA — Zond 7 (opens in a new tab)