SPACE — On October 20, 1970, the Soviet Union launched the Zond 8 spacecraft on a mission to the moon. This is the final mission in the Zond program.
After the first three Zond missions explored Venus and Mars, the next mission was to fly around the moon before returning to Earth. Although there was no crew on board, the Zond spacecraft was designed with cosmonaut space in mind.
The Zond mission served as a test flight for the Soviet Union’s plan to send cosmonauts to the moon. However, the manned flight plan never came to fruition because it had many technical problems.
Zond 8 was considered a success even though its guidance system malfunctioned on the return trip to Earth. The spacecraft still returned to Earth safely and crashed in the Indian Ocean one week after launch. Source: Space.com
2023-10-20 16:34:00
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