Mission
The spacecraft, a Mars 3MV-4A, was launched from a Tyazheliy Sputnik (65-056B) earth orbiting platform towards the Moon and interplanetary space. The spacecraft was equipped with an f/106 mm camera and TV system that provided automatic inflight film processing. On July 20 lunar flyby occurred approximately 39 hours after launch at a closest approach of 9200 km. 23 photographs and 3 ultraviolet spectra of very good quality were taken of the lunar farside from distances of 11,570 to 9960 km over a period of 68 minutes. The photos covered 19,000,000 km² of the lunar surface. Zond 3 proceeded on a Mars trajectory, but not at a time when planetary encounter would occur. To test telemetry, the images were rewound and transmitted at 2.2 million km, 31.5 million km and possibly again at greater distances, thus proving the ability of the communications system. The mission was ended and radio contact ceased when it was at a distance of 150 million km.
This article was originally based on material from NASA (NSSDC) information on Zond 3
Read more about this topic: Zond 3
Famous quotes containing the word mission:
“Not in vain is Ireland pouring itself all over the earth. Divine Providence has a mission for her children to fulfill; though a mission unrecognized by political economists. There is ever a moral balance preserved in the universe, like the vibrations of the pendulum. The Irish, with their glowing hearts and reverent credulity, are needed in this cold age of intellect and skepticism.”
—Lydia M. Child (1802–1880)
“Man is eminently a storyteller. His search for a purpose, a cause, an ideal, a mission and the like is largely a search for a plot and a pattern in the development of his life story—a story that is basically without meaning or pattern.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“It is the mission of the twentieth century to elucidate the irrational.”
—Maurice Merleau-Ponty (1907–1961)