Mars 3MV-4A

Mars probe intended to photograph Mars on a flyby trajectory. Elaboration of station systems and scientific research in interplanetary space. Carried six electric rocket engines of plasma type that served as actuators of the attitude control system. The spacecraft was equipped with a TV system that provided automatic in-flight film processing.

Mass: 925 kg (2,039 lb). Main Engine: KDU-414. Associated Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78.

• 1964 November 30 - Zond 2 - Program: Mars. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78. Mass: 890 kg (1,960 lb).

  Mars probe intended to photograph Mars on a flyby trajectory. Zond 2 was launched from an earth parking orbit towards Mars to test space-borne systems and to carry out scientific investigations. Zond 2 carried six electric rocket engines of plasma type that served as actuators of the attitude control system. The communications system failed during April 1965. The spacecraft flew by Mars on August 6, 1965, at a distance of 1500 km.

• 1965 July 18 - Zond 3 - Program: Mars. Launch Site: Baikonur. Launch Vehicle: Molniya 8K78. Mass: 959 kg (2,114 lb).

  Zond 3 was towards the moon and interplanetary space. The spacecraft was equipped with a TV system that provided automatic inflight film processing. On July 20, during lunar flyby, 25 pictures of very good quality were taken of the lunar farside from distances of 11,570 to 9960 km. The photos covered 19,000,000 km square of the lunar surface. Photo transmissions by facsimile were returned to earth from a distance of 2,200,000 km on July 29 and were retransmitted later from a distance of 31,500,000 km, thus proving the ability of the communications system. After the lunar flyby, Zond 3 continued space exploration in a heliocentric orbit. Those pictures showed clearly the heavily cratered nature of the surface. This mission dramatized the advances in space photography that the U.S.S.R. had made since its first far-side effort six years earlier.

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