LUNA 4

"Lunik 4"
NSSDC ID: 1963-008B

Description:
Luna 4 was the USSR's first successful spacecraft of their "second
generation" lunar program. The spacecraft, rather than being sent
on a straight trajectory toward the Moon, was placed first in an
Earth orbit and then an automatic interplanetary station was
rocketed in a curving path towards the Moon. Luna 4, the second 
attempt of this program, achieved the desired trajectory but missed
the Moon by 8336.2 km at 13:25 UT on 5 April 1963 and entered
a barycentric 90,000 x 700,000 km Earth orbit. The intended
mission of the probe is not known, it was speculated the probe
was designed to land on the Moon with an instrument package
based on the trajectory and on the later attempted landings of the
Luna 5 and 6 spacecraft. (And the fact that a lecture program
entitled "Hitting the Moon" was scheduled to be broadcast on
Radio Moscow at 7:45 p.m. the evening of April 5 but was
cancelled.) The spacecraft transmitted at 183.6 MHz at least
until 6 April. 

Launch Information:
Launch Date/Time: 1963-04-02 at 08:04:00 UTC
Launch Site/Country: Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), 
                                  U.S.S.R.