Zond 3

Courtesy of NASA's National Space Science Data Center

Launch Date/Time: 1965-07-18 at 14:38:00 UTC
Launch Site/Country: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R.
Launch Vehicle: Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape Stage
On-orbit dry mass: 960.00 kg. (2,112 lb.)

Description

Zond 3 was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (65-056B) Earth orbiting platform towards the Moon and interplanetary space. The spacecraft was equipped with a TV system that provided automatic in-flight 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 9,960 kilometers (7,190 to 6,190 miles). The photos covered 19 million square kilometers (7.3 million square miles) of the lunar surface. Photo transmissions by facsimile were returned to Earth from a distance of 2.2 million kilometers (1.4 million miles) and were retransmitted from a distance of 31.5 million kilometers (19.6 million miles), thus proving the ability of the communications system. After the lunar flyby, Zond 3 continued space exploration in a heliocentric orbit.