Mission type Venus lander COSPAR ID 1967-063A Mission duration Launch failure Inclination 51.8° Apogee 262,000 m Manufacturer Lavochkin | Operator Lavochkin SATCAT no. 2852 Spacecraft type 4V-1 Period 1.5 hours Launch date 17 June 1967 Launch site Baikonur Cosmodrome | |
Similar Kosmos 96, Venera 2MV‑1 No1, Venera 6, Tyazhely Sputnik, Venera 16 | ||
Kosmos 167 (Russian: Космос 167 meaning Cosmos 167), or 4V-1 No.311, was a 1967 Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Venus. A 4V-1 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, Kosmos 167 was intended to land on Venus, but never departed low Earth orbit due to a launch failure.
The 4V-1 No.311 spacecraft was the second of two 4V-1 vehicles built and operated by Lavochkin, following Venera 4.
A Molniya-M carrier rocket was used to launch 3MV-4 No.6. The launch occurred from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 02:36:38 UTC on 17 June 1967. Due to a turbopump cooling problem, the rocket's Blok-L fourth stage failed to ignite, and as a result the spacecraft never departed its parking orbit. It was deployed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 187 kilometres (116 mi), an apogee of 262 kilometres (163 mi), and 51.8 degrees of inclination to the equator. The spacecraft was named Kosmos 167, part of a series typically used for military and experimental satellites in order to cover up the failure; had it departed Earth orbit it would have received the next designation in the Venera series, at the time Venera 5. Kosmos 167 was destroyed when it reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 25 June 1967.