1970-02-06 · 56 years ago

E-8-5 No. 405 — launch

Date in UTC

Luna E-8-5 No.405, also known as Luna Ye-8-5 No.405, and sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1970A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1970. It was a 5,600-kilogram (12,300 lb) Luna E-8-5 spacecraft, the fifth of eight to be launched. It was intended to perform a soft landing on the Moon, collect a sample of lunar soil, and return it to the Earth. Luna E-8-5 No.405 was launched at 04:16:06 UTC on 6 February 1970 atop a Proton-K 8K78K carrier rocket with a Blok-D upper stage, flying from Site 81/23 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. A defective pressure sensor caused the first stage to shut down 128 seconds after launch.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_1970A. Original timeline Wikipedia link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_program. Related NASA reference: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/tent_launch.html#luna1970a. 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
E-8-5 No. 405
Organization
Strategic Rocket Forces
Vehicle
Proton-K/D
Location
NIIP-5, Baykonur, Kazakstan
Country
SU
Outcome
Failed

Sources and attribution

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