luna 5

font size="+1"> Luna 5
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b> Organization:	Soviet Union
b> Major Contractors:	OKB-1
b> Mission Type:	Planetary Science Lunar landing
b> Satellite of:	Moon
b> Launch:	May 9, 1965 at 07:55:00 UTC
b> Launch Vehicle:	Molniya 8K78M (4-Stage R-7 / SS-6)
b> Mission Highlight:	Lunar impact May 12, 1965, 19:10 UTC at 31 S, - 8 W.
b> Mission Duration:	3-days
b> Mass:	1,474 kg
b> NSSDC ID:	1965-036A
b> Webpage:	NASA NSSDC Master Catalog
olspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#skyblue"\|Orbital elements
b> Semimajor Axis:	n/a
b> Eccentricity:	n/a
b> Inclination:	n/a
b> Orbital Period:	n/a
b> Apogee:	n/a
b> Perigee:	n/a
b> Orbits:	Lunar impact
olspan="2" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" bgcolor="#skyblue"\|Instruments
b> Close-Up Lunar Surface Photography :	Lunar photography

Luna 5 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 5. It was designed to continue investigations of a lunar soft landing. The retrorocket system failed, and the spacecraft impacted the lunar surface at the Sea of Clouds. In May 1965, Luna 5 became the first Soviet probe to head for the Moon in two years. Following the midcourse correction on 10 May, the spacecraft began spinning around its main axis due to a problem in a flotation gyroscope in the I-100 guidance system unit. A subsequent attempt to fire the main engine failed because of ground control error, and the engine never fired. After loss of control as a result of the gyroscope problem, Luna 5 crashed. Landing coordinates were 31 south latitude and 8 west longitude. It was the second Soviet spacecraft to land on the Moon (following Luna 2 in 1959).

Launch Date/Time: 1965-05-09 at 07:55:00 UTC
On-orbit dry mass: 1474 kg

Luna 5

See also