Cosmos 60

Launch data: Designation  01246 / 65018A Launch date  12 Mar 1965 - 09:36 UT Launch site  B, LC1 Launch vehicle  Molniya 8K78L Mission  attempted Lunar lander Satellite type  Luna E-6 (#6) Earth orbit on: Perigee / Apogee  195 / 248 km Inclination  64.72° Period  88.93 min

Mission details:

• The Cosmos 60 (E-6 series) probe, launched by the Soviet Union on arch 12, 1965, was the sixth attempt at a lunar soft-landing mission, with a design similar to that of Luna 4. The spacecraft achieved Earth orbit (apogee 287 km, perigee 201 km, inclination 64.8 degrees, orbital period 89 minutes) but failed to leave orbit; the escape stage Block L's engine failed to ignite due to failure of a transformer in the power supply of the control system.
• The stage with the payload remained in Earth orbit as Cosmos-60. The satellite reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 17 March 1965.
• Cosmos 60 carried a 16-channel NaI(Tl) scintillator 40 x 40 mm in size. It was surrounded in a charged particle rejection scintillator. The spacecraft weighed 1600 kg and the detector was located inside the vehicle. The detector was sensitive to 0.5-2.0 MeV photons.
• Cosmos 60 measured the gamma-ray background flux density to be 1.7e4 quanta/sq-m/s. As was seen by Ranger 3 and Lunas 10 & 12, the spectrum fell sharply up to 1.5 MeV and was flat for higher energies. Several peaks were observed in the spectra which were attributed to the inelastic interaction of cosmic protons with the materials in the satellite body.
• The designation of this mission as an intended planetary probe is based on evidence from Soviet and non-Soviet sources and historical documents.