Luna 7: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)

Luna 7

Organization:	Soviet Union
Major Contractors:	OKB-1
Mission Type:	Planetary Science Lunar landing
Satellite of:	Moon
Launch:	October 4, 1965 at 07:55:00 UTC
Launch Vehicle:	Molniya 8K78 (4-Stage R-7 / SS-6)
Mission Highlight:	Lunar impact on October 7, 1965, 22:08 UTC 9.8° N - 47.8° W.
Mission Duration:	3-days
Mass:	1,504 kg
NSSDC ID:	1965-077A
Webpage:	NASA NSSDC Master Catalog
Orbital elements
Semimajor Axis:	n/a
Eccentricity:	n/a
Inclination:	n/a
Orbital Period:	n/a
Apogee:	n/a
Perigee:	n/a
Orbits:	Lunar impact
Instruments
Close-Up Lunar Surface Photography :	Lunar photography

Luna 7 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 7. The Luna 7 spacecraft was intended to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. However, due to premature retrofire and cutoff of the retrorockets, the spacecraft impacted the lunar surface in the Sea of Storms.

Unlike its predecessors, Luna 7 successfully carried out its midcourse correction on 5 October on the way to the Moon, in anticipation of a soft-landing two days later. Unfortunately, immediately prior to planned retro-fire during the approach to the lunar surface, the spacecraft suddenly lost attitude control and failed to regain it. Automatic programmed systems then prevented the main engine from firing. As controllers observed helplessly, Luna 7 plummeted to the lunar surface at a very high speed, crashing at 22:08:24 UT on 7 October west of the Kepler crater, relatively near the actual intended target. Impact coordinates were 9° north latitude and 49° west longitude. Later investigation indicated that the optical sensor of the astronavigation system had been set at the wrong angle and had lost sight of Earth during the critical attitude-control maneuver. It was the tenth consecutive failure in the Ye-6 program.

• Launch Date/Time: 1965-10-04 at 07:55:00 UTC
• On-orbit dry mass: 1504 kg

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