Zond 5

Launch data:

Descent module in see.

Zond 5 (L-1) returning to Moscow inside a conteiner. (The automatic space station "Zond-5" aboard the oceanographic vessel "Vasily Golovnin")

Mission details:

• On September 18, 1968, the Soviet Union&prime:s Zond 5 spacecraft circled the moon, ferrying the first living creatures known to have orbited another world. On board were two Russian steppe tortoises along with some worms, flies and seeds.
• The mission worked — mostly. On September 21, Zond 5 had a rough re-entry paired with guidance program problems, and it splashed back down in the Indian Ocean instead of Kazakhstan. An American vessel saw it fall back to Earth. The crew was able to snatch photos before the Soviets could recover the spacecraft. And that told American intelligence even more about how far behind the Soviets were.
• The tortoises were little worse off for the trip. Reports say they′d shed some body weight but were otherwise unharmed.
• Zond 5 spacecraft circled the moon, ferrying the first living creatures known to have orbited another world. The two tortoises beat NASA to the moon by a matter of months.

Soviet scientists examine two steppe tortoises who′d just become the first earthlings to travel to another world. (Credit: energia.ru)