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Manufacturer's Designation: E-6. Class: Planetary. Type: Lunar Lander. Destination: Moon. Nation: Russia. Agency: RVSN. Manufacturer: Korolev. E-6 probes were designed by Korolev's OKB-1 with the objective of making the first soft landing on the moon and beaming back pictures of the surface. Work began on the E-6 on 26 March 1960. The spacecraft consisted of:
- KTDU, the midcourse correction / lunar braking engine module.
- Two-part air bag system for landing the payload on the surface of the moon. The landed spacecraft itself was ejected from the main bus just above the surface; it was surrounded by this air bag to absorb the impact.
- ALS Automatic lunar station, the lander itself. The petals of the outer carapace of this capsule opened like a flower, pushing the photo platform above the surface. It was a hermetically sealed container with radio equipment, a program timing device, heat control systems, scientific apparatus, power sources, and a television system. After landing the four petals opened outward and stabilized the spacecraft on the lunar surface. Spring-controlled antennas assumed operating positions, and the television camera rotating mirror system, which operated by revolving and tilting, began a photographic survey of the lunar environment.
During the flight to the moon the spacecraft was oriented by the KTDU's SAV astronavigation system. This used five sensors (two earth, two moon, one sun) to determine the orientation of the spacecraft in relation to these three celestial objects. At 8,300 km from the lunar surface the SAV was used to determine the local vertical in relation to the moon, gyroscopes were spun up and memorized the position. 75 km above the surface the KTDU ignited. At 25 km from the surface the landing bag inflated to one atmosphere pressure, and the main engine shut off. The landing bag was ejected by a sensor just before impact with the moon, and hit the surface at 15 m/s.
The spacecraft had a launch mass of 1,470 kg and the ALS original design mass was 82 kg. Luna 9 had a mass on release from the upper stage of 1602 kg. The KTDU main engine had a thrust of 4500 kgf and 847 kg of propellant was loaded. A total of 6 seconds of burn time was allocated for mid-course maneuvers and 45 seconds for the lunar landing braking maneuver. After the braking maneuver, with the probe some distance over the lunar surface, the burn-out mass of the entire spacecraft was 430 kg. After the impact air bag had cushioned the final bouncing impact on the surface, the final mass of the probe on the surface was 79.5 kg The television camera aboard had a resolution of 15-20 mm on objects 2 m from the camera. Batteries provided power for five days of operation on the surface, with one hour of data transmissions back to earth per day. In the modernized E-6M version the ALS mass was increased to 150 kg. There were 12 launches of the E-6 and E-6M, of which five experienced launch vehicle failures, four guidance system failures, and three resulted in successful landings.
At the end of 1965 all materials on the E-6 were passed to the Lavochkin Bureau, who took over from Korolev responsibility for all future lunar and planetary unmanned probes. Mass: 1,422 kg (3,134 lb). Main Engine: KTDU-5A. Associated Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78, Molniya 8K78M.
Luna E-6 Chronology
- 1963 April 2 - Luna 4 - Program: Luna. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78. Mass: 1,422 kg (3,134 lb). Perigee: 167 km (103 mi). Apogee: 182 km (113 mi). Inclination: 64.70 deg. Period: 87.98 min.
Luna 4 was the second attempted Soviet unmanned lunar soft lander probe. The spacecraft, rather than being sent on a straight trajectory toward the Moon, was placed first in an earth parking orbit. The rocket stage then reignited and put the spaccecraft on a translunar trajectory. Failure of Luna 4 to make a required midcourse correction resulted in it missing the Moon by 8336.2 km on April 6, at 4:26 a.m. Moscow time. It thereafter entered a barycentric Earth orbit. The Soviet news agency, Tass, reported that data had been received from the spacecraft throughout its flight and that radio communication would continue for a few more days.
- 1963 January 4 - Sputnik 25 - Program: Luna. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78. FAILURE: The escape stage's BOZ unit failed to operate due to failure of a DC transformer of the power system. The stage with payload remained in Earth orbit. Perigee: 165 km (102 mi). Apogee: 189 km (117 mi). Inclination: 64.60 deg. Period: 88.00 min.
- 1965 December 3 - Luna 8 - Program: Luna. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78. Mass: 1,550 kg (3,410 lb).
Lunar soft landing attempt failed. Luna 8's objectives were to test a soft lunar landing system and scientific research. Weighing 1,552 kg (3,422 lbs), the spacecraft was following a trajectory close to the calculated one and the equipment was functioning normally. However, the retrofire was late, and the spacecraft impacted the lunar surface in the Sea of Storms. Tass reported that "the systems were functioning normally at all stages of the landing except the final touchdown." The mission did complete the experimental development of the star-orientation system and ground control of radio equipment, flight trajectory, and other instrumentation.
- 1965 January 1 - N1 development issues - Program: Lunar L3. Launch Vehicle: N1, R-9, RT-1, RT-2, GR-1.
There were two camps on the N1-L3 control systems. One group was within OKB-1, and had developed the systems for the Vostok and Zenit spacecraft, under the personal oversight of Korolev. They stressed the maximum quality and reliability in their systems. The second group had worked with Pilyugin, and had designed the systems for the Mars, Venus, Luna E-6 probes, the R-9, RT-1, RT-2, and GR-1 missiles; and piloted spacecraft. Their design emphasis was on maximum usability and output. Pilyugin had been named chief designer of the control system for the N1-L3.Additional Details: N1 development issues (51154).
- 1965 June 8 - Luna 6 - Program: Luna. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78M. Mass: 1,440 kg (3,170 lb).
Attempted unmanned lunar soft lander. Tass reported that all onboard equipment was functioning normally. Two days into the flight, however, the spacecraft's engine failed to shut down following a midcourse correction. This failure caused Luna 6 to miss its target by 159,612.8 Km.
- 1965 March 2 - Babakin takes over Lavochkin OKB - Program: Lunar L3.
Former Lavochkin bureau, part of Chelomei, regained status of a separate design bureau with former Korolev deputy GN Babakin as its head. By the end of 1965 all materials on the E-6, Ye-8, and planetary probes were passed by Korolev to the Lavochkin Bureau, who took over responsibility for all future lunar and planetary unmanned probes.
- 1965 May 9 - Luna 5 - Program: Luna. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78M. Mass: 1,474 kg (3,249 lb). Perigee: 159 km (98 mi). Apogee: 219 km (136 mi). Inclination: 64.80 deg. Period: 88.27 min.
Soft lunar landing attempt. The retrorocket system failed, and the spacecraft impacted the lunar surface at the Sea of Clouds. Western observers, among them England's Sir Bernard Lovell, correctly speculated that the craft's mission was a soft landing.
- 1965 October 4 - Luna 7 - Program: Luna. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78. Mass: 1,504 kg (3,315 lb).
Lunar soft landing attempt. The Luna 7 spacecraft was intended to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. However, due to premature retrofire and cutoff of the retrorockets, the spacecraft impacted the lunar surface in the Sea of Storms.
- 1966 January 31 - Luna 9 - Program: Luna. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78M. Mass: 1,580 kg (3,480 lb).
Soft landed on Moon; photographed surface for 3 days. Landed on Moon 3 February 1966 at 18:44:52 GMT, Latitude 7.08 N, Longitude 295.63 E - Oceanus Procellarum. The Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data to Earth. Seven radio sessions, totaling 8 hours and 5 minutes, were transmitted as were three series of TV pictures. When assembled, the photographs provided a panoramic view of the nearby lunar surface. The pictures included views of nearby rocks and of the horizon 1.4 Km away from the spacecraft.
Bibliography and Further Reading
- Varfolomyev, Timothy, Spaceflight, "Soviet Rocketry that Conquered Space - Part 5", 1998, Volume 40, page 85. 1: Sp 95/37-260; Sp 96/38-31 (8K71 launches); 2: Sp 96/38-48; 3: Sp 96/38-206; Sp 96/38-317 (designatons); 4: Sp 98/40-28; 5:Sp 98/40-85
- McDowell, Jonathan, Jonathan's Space Home Page, Harvard University, 1997-present. Jonathan McDowell's complete on-line listing of all objects orbited and over 20,000 rocket launches Accessed at: http://www.planet4589.org/jsr.html.
- Air International, 1992, Issue 9, page 149.
- Novosti Kosmonavtiki, "Otmenenniy Start "Molniya-M"", 1997, Issue 1, page 29.
- Kamanin, N P, Skritiy kosmos, Infortext, Moscow, 1995. The diary of the Commander of the Soviet Cosmonaut Team in the 1960's - a source of great insights into the space program. Four volumes issued to date.
- Siddiqi, Asif A, The Soviet Space Race With Apollo, University Press of Florida, 2003. ISBN: 0813026288. The definitive history of the Soviet manned space program in the 1960's to the early 1970's. Originally published as the the latter part of 'Challenge to Apollo' by NASA in 2000 as NASA SP-2000-4408. More at amazon.com...
- Semenov, Yuri P Editor, Raketno-kosmicheskaya korporatsiya 'Energia' imeni S P Koroleva, Moscow, Russia, 1996. Russian in-house history of the Energia Corporation and its predecessors. Unprecedented detail, photographs, designations, and drawings, on the products of Korolev's OKB.
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