Launch Failure
Liftoff Time (GMT)
22:11:54
Wednesday September 27, 1967
One of the 6 RD-253 engines of the first stage fails to ignite, and Proton blasts off with only 5 engines. 100 seconds after the launch, the rocket breaks up in flight, and falls down a few kilometers from the launch pad.
The 7K-L1 is a Soviet lunar spacecraft, conceived in the 60s. It was intended to enable Soviet cosmonauts to fly over the Moon, as Apollo 8 did. The spacecraft is based on the architecture of Soyuz, to which it was removed the orbital module. The 7K-L1, whose development was delayed, never flew with a crew, the program having been cancelled shortly after the first lunar missions of Apollo. However, the first living beings to fly over the Moon, turtles, were transported in this vessel during the Zond-5 mission. The spacecraft has a mass ranging between 5200kg and 5700kg depending on the mission. It has a total length of 4796mm and a maximum diameter of 2720mm. The wingspan once the solar panels are deployed is 9m. The spacecraft can endure missions of a maximum duration of eight to ten days.
Trans Lunar Injection
1 Payload
5,390 kilograms
Manufacturer
KhrunichevRocket
Height: 56.14m
Payload to Orbit
LEO: 18,900 kg
GTO: 9,000 kg
Liftoff Thrust
8,840 Kilonewtons
Fairing
Diameter: 3.9m
Height: 8.9m
Stages
4
3rd
Mission
3rd
Mission of 1967
272nd
Mission
53rd
Mission of 1967
104th
Orbital launch attempt