Luna 6
Encyclopedia
Luna 6 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 6. Luna 6 was intended to travel to the Moon
, but, because a mid-course correction failed, it missed the Moon by 159,612.8 km.
On this ninth Soviet attempt at a lunar soft-landing, the mission proceeded as planned until the major mid-course correction late on 9 June. Although the main retro-rocket engine (the S5.5A) ignited on time, it failed to cut off and continued to fire until propellant supply was exhausted. An investigation later indicated that the problem had been due to human error; a command had been mistakenly sent to the timer that ordered the main engine to shut down. Although the spacecraft was sent on a completely wrong trajectory, ground controllers put the spacecraft through a series of steps to practice an actual landing, all of which were satisfactorily accomplished. Luna 6 passed by the Moon late on 11 June at a range of 161,000 kilometers and eventually entered heliocentric orbit. Contact was maintained to a distance of 600,000 kilometers
from Earth.
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
, but, because a mid-course correction failed, it missed the Moon by 159,612.8 km.
On this ninth Soviet attempt at a lunar soft-landing, the mission proceeded as planned until the major mid-course correction late on 9 June. Although the main retro-rocket engine (the S5.5A) ignited on time, it failed to cut off and continued to fire until propellant supply was exhausted. An investigation later indicated that the problem had been due to human error; a command had been mistakenly sent to the timer that ordered the main engine to shut down. Although the spacecraft was sent on a completely wrong trajectory, ground controllers put the spacecraft through a series of steps to practice an actual landing, all of which were satisfactorily accomplished. Luna 6 passed by the Moon late on 11 June at a range of 161,000 kilometers and eventually entered heliocentric orbit. Contact was maintained to a distance of 600,000 kilometers
from Earth.
- Launch Date/Time: 1965-06-08 at 07:41:00 UTC
- On-orbit dry mass: 1440 kg