NEXT SPACEFLIGHT

Status

Failure

Cosmos 154

Launch Time
Sat Apr 08, 1967 09:00 UTC

The Block D did not perform its second ignition. The investigation concluded that during preparation in Baikonur, a switch was left in the wrong position. Consequently, the SOZ units were released prematurely, which were necessary for the ignition of the RD-58 engine. The Block D and its 7K-L1 spacecraft reentered the atmosphere on April 11, 1967.

Rocket

Proton-K/Block D
RVSN USSR
Status: Retired
Liftoff Thrust: 8,840 kN
Payload to LEO: 18,900 kg
Payload to GTO: 9,000 kg
Stages: 4
Strap-ons: 0
Rocket Height: 56.14 m
Fairing Diameter: 3.9 m
Fairing Height: 8.9 m

Mission Details

Cosmos 154

Cosmos 154 was a Soviet test satellite precursor to the Zond series. The spacecraft was designed to launch a crew from the Earth to conduct a flyby and return to Earth.

The Cosmos 146 and 154 flights have been regarded as tests of the Zond complex involving the firing of the fourth stage of the Proton K/Block D rocket to put the L1 spacecraft into an elliptical trajectory to test high speed re-entry.

L1 was a Soviet spacecraft launched on Proton, designed in parallel of 7K-L1, which flew on the N-1 launcher. It was conceived to carry out crewed flybys of the Moon, like Apollo 8. This spacecraft sent the first living beings to fly over the Moon, turtles, on board Zond 5. The work made on this spacecraft will be used for the improvement of the Soyuz spacecraft.

Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 5,600.0 kg
Low Earth Orbit

Location

Site 81/23, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Stats

1967

34th orbital launch attempt

Proton-K

2nd mission
2nd mission of 1967
1st failed mission