Mission Type: Flyby
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. L1-5M)
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 1
Spacecraft Mass: 480 kg
References:
-Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958-2000, Monographs in Aerospace History No. 24, by Asif A. Siddiqi
Like its predecessor, this spacecraft never reached Earth orbit. During the launch trajectory, there was a failure in the third stage engine at T+290 seconds as a result of frozen kerosene in the pipeline feeding its turbopump (which prevented a valve from opening).
The third and fourth stages, along with the payload, burned up over Earth's atmosphere over eastern Siberia.
The Mars flyby had been planned for 15 May 1961.
This was the Soviet Union's second attempt to reach Mars in less than a week.