Cosmos 96

Launch Partial Failure

Liftoff Time (GMT)

03:14:10

Tuesday November 23, 1965

Mission Details

Launch Notes

The Block L stage has failed to ignite.

Cosmos 96

Wiki

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.

Low Earth Orbit

1 Payload

960 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Molniya

Active 1960 to 1967

RKK Energiya logo

Manufacturer

RKK Energiya

Rocket

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

Launch Site

Site 31/6

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Fastest Turnaround

47 hr 9 min

Stats

Molniya


32nd

Mission

10th

Mission of 1965

RKK Energiya


155th

Mission

44th

Mission of 1965

1965


105th

Orbital launch attempt