Venera 2MV-1 No.2,
also known as Sputnik 20 in the
Western world
The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to various nations and state (polity), states in Western Europe, Northern America, and Australasia; with some debate as to whether those in Eastern Europe and Latin America also const ...
, was a
Soviet
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
spacecraft, which was launched in 1962 as part of the
Venera
The Venera (, 'Venus') program was a series of space probes developed by the Soviet Union between 1961 and 1984 to gather information about the planet Venus.
Thirteen probes successfully entered the Venusian atmosphere, including the two ...
programme. Due to a problem with its upper stage it failed to leave
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
, and reentered the atmosphere a few days later.
It was the second of two Venera 2MV-1 spacecraft, both of which failed to leave Earth orbit. The previous mission,
Venera 2MV-1 No.1
Venera 2MV-1 No.1, also known as Sputnik 19 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft, which was launched in 1962 as part of the Venera programme.
Due to a problem with its upper stage it failed to leave low Earth orbit, and reentered the atmosphere ...
, was launched several days earlier.
Launch
Venera 2MV-1 No.2 was launched at 02:12:30 UTC on 1 September 1962, atop a
Molniya 8K78 carrier rocket flying from
Site 1/5 at the
Baikonur Cosmodrome
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...
.
The lower stages of the rocket operated nominally, injecting the fourth stage and payload into a
low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...
. Following a
coast phase
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more thermonuclear warheads). Conventional, chemical, and biological weapons ...
, the upper stage was to have ignited around sixty-one minutes and thirty seconds after launch, in order to place the spacecraft into
heliocentric orbit
A heliocentric orbit (also called circumsolar orbit) is an orbit around the barycenter of the Solar System, which is usually located within or very near the surface of the Sun. All planets, comets, and asteroids in the Solar System, and the Sun ...
. The ignition command did not reach the engine, however, and the fuel valves did not open, so the upper stage failed to ignite leaving the payload in
geocentric orbit
A geocentric orbit, Earth-centered orbit, or Earth orbit involves any object orbiting Earth, such as the Moon or artificial satellites. In 1997, NASA estimated there were approximately 2,465 artificial satellite payloads orbiting Earth and 6,21 ...
.
It reentered the atmosphere on 6 September 1962, five days after it had been launched.
Satellite designation
The designations Sputnik 24, and later Sputnik 20, were used by the United States
Naval Space Command
The Naval Space Command (NSC) was a military Command (military formation), command of the United States Navy and former component command of United States Space Command. It was headquartered at Dahlgren, Virginia, and began operations on 1 Octob ...
to identify the spacecraft in its Satellite Situation Summary documents, since the Soviet Union did not release the internal designations of its spacecraft at that time, and had not assigned it an official name due to its failure to depart Earth orbit.
See also
*
List of missions to Venus
There have been 46 space missions to the planet Venus (including gravity-assist flybys). Missions to Venus constitute part of the exploration of Venus. The Soviet Union, followed by the United States, have soft landed probes on the surface. ...
References
Spacecraft launched in 1962
Venera program
Spacecraft which reentered in 1962
2MV
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