Luna E-6LS

USSR

International Sat. n°:

USSR satellite n°:

Launch data:

Designation	F00445 / 68F01
Launch date	07 Feb 1968 - 10:43:54 UT
Launch site	B, LC1
Launch vehicle	Molniya-M /Blok-MVL (8K78M s/n° Ya716-57)
Satellite type	E-6LS (s/n°112)
Mission	Lunar soft lander
Decay	07 Feb 1968

Launch failure: stage 3 engine cut off prematurely (attempted Lunar orbiter).

Spacecraft data:

Manufacturer	OKB-1
Customer
Platform
Mass at launch	1700 kg
Dry Mass	kg
Basic shape
Dimension
Solar array
Stabilization
Propulsion

Description:

The E-6LS was a radio-equipped version of the E-6 used to test tracking and communications networks for the Soviet manned lunar program. Otherwise the spacecraft instrumentation was similar to that of the E-6LF and provided data for studies of the interaction of the earth and lunar masses, the lunar gravitational field, the propagation and stability of radio communications to the spacecraft at different orbital positions, solar charged particles and cosmic rays, and the motion of the Moon.

Mission:

Luna 1968A (E-6LS series) was a Soviet attempt to orbit a spacecraft around the Moon. The design was similar to the later Luna 14 spacecraft. The mission was a failure.

At T+524.6 sec Stage 3's engine 11D55 cut off prematurely because it ran out of fuel due to an excessive fuel consumption rate through the gas-generator.
Suggestions for the abnormal consumption included the seizing up of a pintle valve for controlling fuel supply into the regulator or the seizing up of the fuel inlet control. The upper stages broke up in the atmosphere.

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