Launch Failure
Liftoff Time (GMT)
08:39:01
Saturday April 10, 1965
During third stage flight, a nitrogen pipeline in the oxidiser tank depressurised, which caused a loss of oxidiser flow to the engine and resulted in the engine cutting off. The spacecraft failed to achieve orbit, and the spacecraft disintegrated on reentry.
E-6 n°8, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1965A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1965. It was a 1,422-kilogram Luna E-6 spacecraft, the seventh of twelve to be launched. It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Prior to the release of information about its mission, NASA correctly identified that it had been an attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon.
Lunar orbit
1 Payload
1,422 kilograms
Manufacturer
RKK EnergiyaRocket
Height: 44.23m
Payload to Orbit
LEO: 6,000 kg
GTO: 2,200 kg
Liftoff Thrust
4,378 Kilonewtons
Fairing
Diameter: 2.58m
Height: 6.74m
Stages
4
Strap-ons
4
24th
Mission
2nd
Mission of 1965
124th
Mission
13th
Mission of 1965
33rd
Orbital launch attempt