Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration

Luna mid-course correction
Luna 6 on the 8th June set off for the moon with the same promise as Luna 5. There
was a sense of apprehension as the mid-course manoeuvre approached. Although the
rocket switched on correctly, it would not turn off! The engine continued to blast away
remorselessly, sending Luna 6 away in the opposite direction. It missed the moon by
no fewer than 160,935 km, what must have been a record. Trying to salvage something
from another disappointment, ground control commanded a separation of the lander
and inflation of the airbags, a manoeuvre that apparently worked.
LUNAR FARSIDE PHOTOGRAPHY
After all these Luna disappointments, it was ironic that during the summer the Soviet
Union now achieved an unexpected success courtesy of an unlaunched Mars probe.
This was Zond 3. The title 'Zond' had been contrived by Korolev to test out the
technologies involved in deep space missions. Zond 1 had been sent to Venus in March
1964, while Zond 2 headed for Mars in November 1964, coming quite close to hitting
the planet the following summer. These Zonds each had two modules: a pressurized
orbital section, 1.1 m in diameter, with 4m wide solar panels, telemetry systems, 2 m
transmission dish, a KDU-414 engine for mid-course manoeuvre and a planetary
module. This could be a lander (e.g., Zond 1), but in the case of Zond 3 this was a
photographic system, accompanied by other scientific instruments. The probe was
compact and smaller than the Lunas at 950 kg. The camera system was a new one
introduced for the 1964-5 series of Mars and Venus probes. The designer was Arnold
Selivanov and his system was comparatively miniscule, weighing only 6.5 kg. The film
used was 25.4mm, able to hold 40 images and could be scanned at either 550 or 1,100