Zond Program
Zond (Зонд; “probe” in Russian) is the name of a series of Soviet automatic vehicles designed as test systems with a view to a future moon landing and launches in service between 1963 and 1970. The series began with the takeoff of the first Zond spacecraft for the study of Mars and Venus passing through the vicinity of the Moon.
Objectives
From the 4th to the 8th mission were tests for manned circumlunar flights. The Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft was also tested to be used in the mission to the Moon. All were launched using the Proton rocket which was powerful enough to send the Zond on a free return trajectory without entering lunar orbit. The Soviet mission had the capacity to carry 1 or 2 cosmonauts.
For her part, Laura Cortéz Robayo points out that the Ranger 6 and Ranger 7 were launched in 1964 by the Americans, and a year later, in 1965, the Ranger 8, Luna 9 and Zond 3 were launched, who photographed an area of about five million square kilometers of the lunar face not visible from Earth, which gave a complete image of such a hemisphere of the natural satellite.
In the beginning there were problems with the new Proton and the Soyuz spacecraft but they were solved on the fly. The circular drone flight of Zond 5 in September 1968 caused NASA to speed up their efforts and launch Apollo 8 to fly to the moon in December 1968. This is because the CIA believed that Russia was preparing for a flight manned to the satellite. Ultimately 4 of the 5 Zond missions had in-flight failures that could have killed the crew.
The experiments yielded a lot of information such as micrometeor flows, solar and cosmic radiation, magnetic fields, radio emissions, and the solar wind.
Missions
| Vehicle | Launch | Destination | Arrival | Approximately | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zond 1 | 2 April 1964 | Venus | Launched from a heavy satellite in Earth orbit. Loss of contact on 14 May 1964. Located in solar orbit. | ||
| Zond 2 | 30 November 1964 | Mars | It weighed 960 kg. Contact lost in May 1965 to 4.5 million km from Earth. Tested successfully 6 experimental electric plasma engines for adjustment control. | ||
| Zond 3 | 18 July 1965 | Moon | It weighed 960 kg. Systems test for interplanetary probes. It transmits 25 photographs of the moon's hidden face to 9,200 km. | ||
| Zond 4 | 2 March 1968 | It weighed 2500 kg. Automatic probe in Earth orbit of 211x290 km. Study of the higher regions of space. Probable Soyuz capsule test for future human missions. | |||
| Zond 5 | 15 September 1968 | Moon | Return on September 21 of the same year. It weighed 2500 kg. First automatic probe that circumnavigates the Moon, and returns to Earth on a free path. On board it has turtles, insects, seeds and plants. Overfly the Moon at 1,212 km. | ||
| Zond 6 | 10 November 1968 | Moon | Return on November 17. Weight: 2.720 kg. Second flight circle with recovery. Take pictures of the hidden face to 2,420 km high. | ||
| Zond 7 | 7 August 1969 | Moon | Come back on August 14. Weight: 2.720 kg. Circlute flight. Photograph the hidden face from 2200 km. Performs color photographs of the Earth and the Moon. | ||
| Zond 8 | 20 October 1970 | Moon | Come back on October 27. Circlute flight to 1.118 km of its surface. Take photographs and study the trajectory and environment. |