Ye-6/2
| Launch Date | Jan. 4, 1963 |
| Launch Site | Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, Russia | |
| Destination | Earth’s Moon |
| Type | Lander |
| Status | Unsuccessful |
| Nation | Soviet Union |
| Alternate Names | Unnamed Luna, Sputnik 25, Sputnik 33 (USNSC), 00521, 1963-001A |
Goals
This was the first Soviet spacecraft designed to make a survivable landing on the Moon. The 100 kilogram (220 pound) egg-shaped lander carried an imaging system and an instrument to measure radiation.
Accomplishments
None. The spacecraft made it to Earth orbit, but a malfunction failed to send it on the Moon. It eventually burned up in Earth's atmosphere.
Key Dates
Jan. 4, 1963: Launch
In Depth
This spacecraft was the first "second-generation" Soviet lunar probe (known as Ye-6). These were designed to accomplish a survivable landing on the surface of the Moon.
The Ye-6 probes were equipped with simple lander capsules (called the ALS) whose primary objective was to send back photographs from the lunar surface. Each egg-shaped ALS was installed on a roughly cylindrical-shaped main bus.
Like the Mars and Venera deep space probes, the Ye-6 Luna spacecraft were also launched by the four-stage 8K78 (Molniya) booster but modified for lunar missions.
Like many of its deep space predecessors, this first Luna probe failed to escape Earth orbit because of a failure in the Blok L translunar injection stage. There was apparently a failure in the inverter in the power system of the I-100 guidance system (which controlled both the Blok L and the spacecraft), which failed to issue a command to fire the Blok L engine. The spacecraft remained in Earth orbit, unacknowledged by the Soviets.
Spacecraft
Launch Vehicle: 8K78 (no. T103-09)
Spacecraft Mass: 1,420 kg
Spacecraft Instruments:
- imaging system
- radiation detector
Additional Resources
NSSDC Master Catalog: Sputnik 25
Selected References
Siddiqi, Asif A. Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958-2000, NASA, 2002
