Friday, November 10, 2017

Zond 6, Soviet lunar orbiter, launched 1968



Zond 6, a Soviet spacecraft launched to flyby the moon November 10, 1968, was the second probe to reach the moon and return, Zond 5 being the first.  Zond 6 reached the moon November 14 taking pictures of the near and far sides.

Zond 6 returned to Earth on November 17 but during re-entry, a faulty gasket caused the spacecraft to depressurize, killing the animals (turtles, wine flies, mealworms, plants, seeds, bacteria) on  board.  Then its parachutes failed to deploy and Zond 6 crashed in Kazakhstan, near the launch site.



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