Names Soyuz 7K-L1 s/n 14 Operator Soviet Union SATCAT no. 4591 Launch site Baikonur Cosmodrome | Mission type Spacecraft test COSPAR ID 1970-088A Launch mass 5,375 kg Bus Soyuz 7K-L1 | |
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Recovered by Soviet recovery vessel Taman Manufacturer S. P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia Similar Zond 7, Zond 5, Surveyor 6, Lunar Orbiter 5, Surveyor 7 | ||
Zond 8, a formal member of the Soviet Zond program and unmanned version of Soyuz 7K-L1 manned Moon-flyby spacecraft, was launched from an Earth orbiting platform, Tyazheliy Sputnik (1970-088B), towards the Moon.
The announced objectives of Zond 8 were investigations of the Moon and circumlunar space and testing of onboard systems and units. The spacecraft obtained photographs of Earth on 21 October from a distance of 64,480 km. The spacecraft transmitted flight images of Earth for three days. Zond 8 flew past the Moon on October 24, 1970, at a distance of 1110.4 km and obtained both black-and-white and color photographs of the lunar surface. Scientific measurements were also obtained during the flight.
Zond 8 reentered the Earth's atmosphere and splashed down 730 km SE of the Chagos Archipelago, in the Indian Ocean on 27 October 1970, 24 km from the USSR recovery ship Taman.