Launching to Mars and Venus

TIMELINE: OCT 1960-FEB 1961

The Moon had been the principal target for the USSR in 1958 and 1959, and for the US as well through 1960, hut both had ambitions to send spacecraft to the planets. Venus was the closest and most accessible, but Mars, slightly farther away, was the most fascinating. Having been successful at the Moon, the Soviet Union was ready to start launching planetary missions in 1960. The US, struggling to achieve success at the Moon, decided to put off attempting planetary missions.

Korolev developed a four-stage version of the R-7 rocket to launch missions to the planets, and a spacecraft quite different from the initial Luna series to meet the challenges of interplanetary flight. The new rocket and spacecraft were ready for the launch opportunities for Mars in late 1960 and for Venus in early 1961. The first attempts to send a spacecraft to Mars were on October 10 and 14, 1960. and in both cases the third stage failed, giving the new fourth stage and spacecraft no chance to perform. Later on February 4, 1961, the first attempt to send a spacecraft to Venus was foiled when the engine of the new fourth stage failed to ignite. Finally, on its fourth launch on February 12, 1961, the new rocket succeeded in sending its payload on a trajectory towards the planet Venus. Unfortunately, the Venera 1 spacecraft had a number of problems and failed early in its flight.

W. T. Huntress and M. Y. Marov, Soviet Robots in the Solar System: Mission Technologies and Discoveries, Springer Praxis Hooks 1, DOl 10.1007/978-1-4419-7898-1 7,

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THE FIRST LAUNCH TO MARS: 1960