Molniya 8K78 | Zond-3
Launch Successful
L - -- : -- : -- : --
Instantaneous launch window.
Launch Window
July 18, 1965, 2:32 p.m. - July 18, 1965, 2:32 p.m.
Instantaneous launch window.
July 18, 1965, 2:32 p.m. - July 18, 1965, 2:32 p.m.
Lunar flyby probe
The Molniya was a modification of the well-known R-7 Semyorka rocket and had four stages. The 8K78 resulted from a crash program by the Korolev Bureau to develop a booster for launching planetary probes. A larger third stage was added along with a fourth stage (Blok L) that was designed to fire in-orbit to send the payload out of LEO. The basic R-7 core was also structurally strengthened and given more powerful engines. A rushed development produced multiple malfunctions of the upper stages, which led to its being replaced by the improved Molniya-M in 1964, but there were enough 8K78s left to continue flying them into 1967.
The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation are a separate-troops branch of the Russian Armed Forces that control Russia's land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).
WIKISecond flight of the KAIROS launch vehicle. 5 satellites for testing various technologies will be on board: * TATARA-1 * PARUS-T1A * SC-Sat1…
Seventh and eighth of a constellation of eleven high-throughput communications satellites in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) built by Boeing and operated by…
Sixth batch of satellites for a reconnaissance satellite constellation built by SpaceX and Northrop Grumman for the National Reconnaissance Office to…
GPS-III (Global Positioning System) is the first evolution stage of the third generation of the GPS satellites. It consists of the first ten (known a…
4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.
A batch of 10 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group…
Sub-orbital launch of the Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) program for a confidential customer.
A batch of 22 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.
5 prototype satellites for Low Earth Orbit communications satellite constellation testing, in 3 different orbits.
A batch of 23 satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation - SpaceX's project for space-based Internet communication system.