Russia's Rocket to the Moon( Lunik 4) |
1963, Russia's Rocket to the Moon ( Lunik 4) 1 Bulgarian stotinka
Text: Russia's Rocket to the Moon( Lunik 4) 1 Bulgarian stotinka
Condition: Ø = used/cancelled
Title: Moon
Probes
Face value: 1
Stamp Currency: Bulgarian stotinka
Country/area: Bulgaria
Year: 1963
Set: 1963
Ruimtesondes
Stamp number in set: 1
Basic colour: Blue
Exact colour: Ultramarine
Usage:
Franking
Type: Stamp
Theme: Missiles,
Astronautics
Stamp subject: Maan, Aarde en Loena- 4
Michel number: 1388
Yvert number: 1194
Scott number: 1278
Stanley Gibbons number: 1383
Printing office:
Perforation: L 11½
Printing: Photogravure
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Russia's Rocket to the Moon( Lunik 4)
Luna 4 (E-6 series) was the USSR's first
successful spacecraft of their "second generation" Luna program. The
spacecraft, rather than being sent on a straight trajectory toward the Moon,
was placed first in a low Earth orbit (167 to 182 km altitude) and then the
rocket stage reignited to send it on a curving path towards the Moon.
Luna 4, the second attempt of this
program, achieved the desired trajectory but a failure to make a required
midcourse correction resulted in it missing the Moon by 8336.2 km at 13:25 UT
on April 5, 1963. It then entered a barycentric 90,000 × 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 Luna 6
spacecraft and successful landing of Luna 9. (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 April 6.
Lunar surface close-up photography
The purpose of this experiment was to
obtain information on the characteristics of the lunar surface. These
characteristics include the amount of cratering, structure and size of craters,
the amount, distribution, and sizes of ejecta, mechanical properties of the
surface such as bearing strength, cohesiveness, compaction, etc. Determination
and recognition of processes operating to produce the lunar surface features
also were among the objectives of this photographic experiment.
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