Mission Type: Flyby
Launch Vehicle: 8K82K + Blok D (Proton-K no. 229-01 / Blok D no. 12L)
Launch Site: NIIP-5 / launch site 81L
Spacecraft Mass: c. 5,375 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/


Solar System Log by Andrew Wilson, published 1987 by Jane's Publishing Co. Ltd.

This spacecraft, a 7K-L1 type, was the first of a series of spacecraft that the Soviets tried to send on circumlunar missions as part of a larger project to send cosmonauts around the Moon.

The program, which was officially approved in October 1965, was set off by two technological flights in Earth orbit in March and April 1967. The 7K-L1 spacecraft was a stripped-down version of the larger 7K-OK Soyuz spacecraft intended for Earth-orbital operations.

During this launch, one of the six first-stage engines failed to fire because of blockage of a propellant line, and the launch vehicle was destroyed at T+97.4 seconds.