Ye-6 No. 6 (Luna)
Fast Facts: Unnamed Moon Mission (Ye-6 No. 6)
This Soviet lunar lander fell back to Earth minutes after launch.
The mission was not acknowledged at the time by the Soviet Union. Historians have identified it as part of the Soviet Luna series of Moon missions.
Results
This fourth Soviet attempt to achieve a soft-landing on the Moon ended in failure when the spacecraft failed to reach an intermediate orbit around Earth.
During the boost phase, the launcher’s third stage engine’s (8D715) main liquid oxygen valve failed to open when the valve rod broke. As a result, the Ye-engine never achieved full thrust and eventually cut off prematurely at T+487 seconds. The spacecraft never reached Earth orbit.
