COSPAR ID 1965-094A Mission duration Launch failure Inclination 51.9° Apogee 262,000 m | Operator OKB-1 SATCAT no. 1742 Spacecraft type 3MV-4 Period 1.5 hours Launch date 23 November 1965 | |
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Manufacturer S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia Similar Venera 2MV‑1 No1, Tyazhely Sputnik, Venera 6, Venera 16, Venera 3 | ||
Kosmos 96 (Russian: Космос 96 meaning Cosmos 96), or 3MV-4 No.6, was a Soviet spacecraft intended to explore Venus. A 3MV-4 spacecraft launched as part of the Venera programme, Kosmos 96 was to have made a flyby of Venus, however due to a launch failure it did not depart low Earth orbit.
The 3MV-4 No.6 spacecraft was originally built for a mission to Mars, with launch scheduled for late 1964. After it was not launched by the end of its launch window, the spacecraft was repurposed, along with two other spacecraft which were launched as Venera 2 and Venera 3, to explore Venus.
A Molniya carrier rocket was used to launch 3MV-4 No.6. The launch occurred from Site 31/6 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 03:21 UTC on 23 November 1965. Late in third stage flight, a fuel line ruptured, causing one of the engine's combustion chambers to explode. The rocket tumbled out of control, and as a result the fourth stage, a Blok-L, failed to ignite. The spacecraft was deployed into a low Earth orbit with a perigee of 209 kilometres (130 mi), an apogee of 261 kilometres (162 mi), and 51.9 degrees of inclination to the equator. The spacecraft was named Kosmos 96, part of a series typically used for military and experimental satellites in order to cover up the failure. Had it departed Earth's orbit, it would have received the next designation in the Venera series, at the time Venera 4.
Kosmos 96 was destroyed when it reentered the Earth's atmosphere on 9 December 1965. Its reentry has been suggested as a possible explanation of UFO sightings over the United States and Canada, centred on Kecksburg, Pennsylvania; however analysis found the spacecraft probably reentered several hours before the sightings.