Launch Failure
Liftoff Time (GMT)
10:40:00
Wednesday August 10, 1977
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 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
Manufacturer
RKK EnergiyaPrice
$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
72nd
Mission
25th
Mission of 1977
1151st
Mission
62nd
Mission of 1977
77th
Orbital launch attempt