Mission Type: Impact
Launch Vehicle: 8K78M
Launch Site: Tyuratam, Baikonur Cosmodrome, USSR
Spacecraft Mass: c. 950 kg
Spacecraft Instruments: Unknown
References:
Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958-2000, Monographs in Aerospace History No. 24, by Asif A. Siddiqi
National Space Science Data Center, http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/
This was the third and last spacecraft prepared for a Venus encounter by the Soviets in 1965. All three spacecraft had originally been intended for Mars Exploration in 1964 and 1965. However, during coast to orbit, a combustion chamber in the booster's third-stage engine exploded due to a crack in the fuel pipeline.
Although the payload reached Earth orbit, the Blok L upper stage was tumbling and was unable to fire for trans-Venus trajectory injection. The probe remained stranded in Earth orbit and the Soviets named it Kosmos 96 to disguise its true mission. The probe's orbit decayed on 9 December 1965,
There is some speculation that the reentry of the Kosmos 96/Venera-type spacecraft was responsible for a fireball which was seen over southwestern Ontario, Canada and at least eight states from Michigan to New York at 4:43 p.m. EST on 9 December 1965.