Cosmos 96

Cosmos 96, or 3MV-4 No.6, was a Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Venus. A 3MV-4 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, Kosmos 96 was to have made a flyby of Venus; however, due to a launch failure, it did not depart low Earth orbit. The spacecraft was deployed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 209 kilometres, an apogee of 261 kilometres, and 51.9 degrees of inclination to the equator. The spacecraft was named Kosmos 96, part of a series typically used for military and experimental satellites in order to cover up the failure. Had it departed Earth's orbit, it would have received the next designation in the Venera series, at the time Venera 4. Kosmos 96 was destroyed when it reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 9 December 1965. Its reentry has been suggested as a possible explanation of UFO sightings over the United States and Canada, centered on Kecksburg, Pennsylvania; however analysis found the spacecraft probably reentered several hours before the sightings.