Zenit-4MKM n°399

Launch Failure

Liftoff Time (GMT)

10:40:00

Wednesday August 10, 1977

Mission Details

Launch Notes

The launcher lifts off nominally, but the emergency engine shutdown (ESD) command is issued at H0+103.8". Moments after lift-off, a leak appears on the hydrogen peroxide circuit of the RD-107 V-Block engine. The leak is located at the Д065-452 fitting, which was probably damaged during engine assembly. This leak led to a fire that caused a sharp rise in pressure and temperature in the rear compartment of the V-Block, which was partially destroyed at H0+53.52". It then detached from the A Block at the rear connecting rods, causing the AVD command to be issued.

Zenit-4MKM n°399

Zenit was a series of military photoreconnaissance satellites launched by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1994. The basic design of the Zenit satellites was similar to the Vostok crewed spacecraft, sharing the return and service modules. It consisted of a spherical re-entry capsule 2.3 metres in diameter with a mass of around 2,400 kilograms. This capsule contained the camera system, its film, recovery beacons, parachutes and a destruct charge. In orbit, this was attached to a service module that contained batteries, electronic equipment, an orientation system and a liquid fuelled rocket engine that would slow the Zenit for re-entry, before the service module detached. The total length in orbit was around 5 metres. Unlike the American Corona spacecraft, the return capsule carried both the film and the cameras and kept them in a temperature controlled pressurised environment. This simplified the design and engineering of the camera system but added considerably to the mass of the satellite. An advantage was that cameras could be reused. Most Zenits flew in a slightly elliptical orbit with a perigee of around 200 kilometres (120 miles) and an apogee between 250 and 350 kilometres (160 and 220 miles); the missions usually lasted between 8 and 15 days.

Low Earth Orbit

1 Payload

6,300 kilograms

Rocket

Retired
Soyuz U

Active 1973 to 2017

RKK Energiya logo

Manufacturer

RKK Energiya

Price

$20.00 million

Rocket

Height: 51.32m

Payload to Orbit

LEO: 6,860 kg

GTO: 0 kg

Liftoff Thrust

4,456 Kilonewtons

Fairing

Diameter: 3m

Height: 15.59m

Stages

3

Strap-ons

4

Launch Site

Site 31/6

Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan

Fastest Turnaround

47 hr 9 min

Stats

Soyuz U


72nd

Mission

25th

Mission of 1977

RKK Energiya


1151st

Mission

62nd

Mission of 1977

1977


77th

Orbital launch attempt