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![]() | Luna - Exploring the Moon |
Tyneside, UK 2023 Oct 2 Monday, Day 275 | ||||||||||
Curated by:
Selected Luna Missions:
Elsewhere:
A different view from Ian Ridpath
Summarised by Don P Mitchell
| The Mission of Zond 3
Zond 3 is included here for completeness in that it studied the Moon but it was not part of the concerted Soviet lunar exploration programme of landers and orbiters.In design, it was one of the USSR's interplanetary spacecraft and it flew past the Moon on it's way towards the main target, Mars.
![]() Zond 1 headed off towards Venus in 1964, and Zond 2 was despatched towards Mars later the same year. Neither craft operated for more than a few weeks and were radio silent by the time they reached their destinations. Zond 3 was prepared for launching during the 1964 Mars launch window. However, there were delays and the opportunity to launch slipped by. In the event it was launched during 1965 towards the orbit of Mars although Mars was elsewhere by the time Zond 3 got there.
![]() As it left the Earth, Zond 3 went past the Moon 1965 July 20 and took 25 pictures of the far side from distances ranging between 10,000 and 12,000 kilometres. To test Zond 3's communications system, The images were then transmitted back to Earth from a distance of 2,200,000 kilometres, and again from 31,500,000 kilometres.
Although it had no specific target of exploration, Zond 3 proved to the Soviet Union, and to the rest of the world, that its scientists were capable of building and operating an interplanetary craft. The success must have been quite frustrating to the scientists and engineers who put it together.
Zond 3 Statistics:
Launch Vehicle: Molniya Launching Technique: Low orbit around the Earth and then a direct landing trajectory Mass: 960 kilogrammes Length: 2.5 metres) Maximum Diameter: 1.0 metre
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