Mission type Mars flyby Spacecraft type Mars 1M Launch date 14 October 1960 Launch site Baikonur Cosmodrome | Mission duration Failed to orbit Launch mass 650 kg Rocket Molniya | |
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Manufacturer S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia Similar Mars 1M No1, Mars 2M No522, Mars 2M No521, Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, Zond 2 | ||
Mars 1M No.2, designated Mars 1960B by NASA analysts and dubbed Marsnik 2 by the Western media, was a spacecraft launched as part of the Soviet Union's Mars programme, which was lost in a launch failure in 1960. 1M No.2, which was intended to perform a flyby of Mars, was destroyed after its Molniya carrier rocket failed to achieve orbit.
Launch
Mars 1M No.2 was the second Mars 1M spacecraft to be launched, lifting off four days after its sister craft, Mars 1M No.1, had been lost during the Molniya 8K78 rocket's maiden flight. 1M No.2 was carried by another Molniya, which had the serial number L1-5M. The launch took place from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, with liftoff occurring at 13:51:03 UTC on 14 October 1960.
During preparations for the launch, an oxidiser leak in the second stage caused liquid oxygen, at cryogenic temperature, to spill around the engine's fuel inlet valve. This froze the stage's RP-1 propellent, leaving the engine unable to ignite. As a result, the spacecraft failed to achieve Earth orbit.