Such an example appeared recently, whilst I was looking for some image for another post and I found a US Air Force site, showing declassified historical documents.
One particular post stood out, as it dealt with a 'Sputnik-46' satellite launch. As far as I was aware, there had only been three Sputnik satellite launches, so I was quite intrigued and read the document. It turned out that it was a report from an Air Force monitoring station, which during the Cold War years, kept a watch on Soviet launches. 'Sputnik-46' was a code name for an object which had been launched from the Tyuratam Base (now Baikonour Cosmodrome) in November 1963. The Soviets had already stolen a march on the West with the orbit of Yuri Gararin in Vostok 1 and the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1 and would shortly find success with the three man craft Voskhod 1 in 1964. Mindful that the race was on to visit the Moon, either with a manned mission or remote probes, the Soviet Union were desperately trying to send a satellite to either Venus or Mars, to achieve yet another soviet first.
The document in question details the launch and apparent failure of 'Sputnik-46' and gives details of the radar observations of the object. Its interesting to read the message, as it shows the extreme accuracy by which the object could be tracked, with dimensions and descriptions of the orbiting parts, including a tiny plate around a foot long.
Here is an edited transcript of the main message:
AF IN: 20080 (12 Nov 63)
ON 11 NOVEMBER AT APPROXIMATELY 0625Z THE SOVIET UNION LAUNCHED AN EARTH SATELLITE VEHICLE FROM THE TYURATAM MISSILE TEST RANGE.
THIS LAUNCH WAS DETECTED BY THE SHEMYA RADAR FACILITY AND LATER RADAR DATA HAS BEEN OBTAINED FROM OTHER SPADATS FACILITIES.
THIS LAUNCH HAS BEEN DESIGNATED SPUTNIK 46, THREE OBJECTS HAVE BEEN DETECTED IN THIS ORBIT, AND ORBITAL PARAMETERS HAVE BEEN OBTAINED ON TWO OF THESE.
THE SPUTNIK 46 ORBIT IS A NOMINAL 65 DEGREE INCLINATION ORBIT, AS WE HAVE SEEN ON ALL PREVIOUS LAUNCHES FROM THE TYURATAM MISSILE TEST RANGE EXCEPT FOR SPUTNIK 45. OF THE THREE OBJECTS IN THE SPUTNIK 46 ORBIT, THE TRAILING PIECE HAS BEEN TENTATIVELY IDENTIFIED AS THE PAYLOAD, AND HAS BEEN DESIGNATED SPADATS OBJECT NUMBER 687.
INITAL RADAR SIGNATURE ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT THE ROUGH SHAPE OF OBJECT 687 APPEARS TO BE A CONE-CYLINDER, LENGTH APPROXIMATELY 5 FEET AND DIAMETER APPROXIMATELY 3 FEET. IT APPEARS TO BE TUMBLING WITH A PERIOD OF APPROXIMATELY 5 SECONDS (12RPM).
THE LEADING OBJECT IN THIS ORBIT HAS BEEN TENTATIVELY IDENTIFIED AS THE INJECTION STAGE ROCKET BODY, AND HAS BEEB DESIGNATED SPADATS OBJECT NUMBER 688.OBJECT 688 IS LEADING OBJECT 687 BY 6.5 MINUTES AS OF REVOLUTION 27. RADAR SIGNATURE ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT OBJECT 688 APPEARS TO BE BASICALLY CYLINDRICAL, PERHAPS WITH A SLIGHT TAPER. LENGTH APPEARS TO BE 10-16 FEET, WITH DIAMETER 4.5-6.5 FEET.
THE REMAINING OBJECT IN THE SPUTNIK 45 ORBIT IS LEADING OBJECT 687 AND LAGGING OBJECT 688. AS OF REVOLUTION 6 IT WAS LEADING OBJECT 687 BY APPROXIMATELY ONE MINUTE. DUE TO THE SMALL SIZE OF THIS OBJECT, THERE HAS NOT BEEN SUFFICIENT RADAR DATA OBTAINED AS YET FOR THE CALCULATION OF ORBITAL PARAMETERS. THEREFORE THIS PIECE HAS NOT RECEIVED A SPADATS OBJECT NUMBER AS YET. RADAR SIGNATURE ANALYSIS INDICATES THAT THIS PIECE APPEARS TO BE A SMALL FRAGMENT, WITH A DIAMETER OF ROUGHLY SIX TO TWELVE INCHES. THERE ARE VERY TENTATIVE INDICATIONS THAT IS SOME SORT OF PLATE. IT IS TUMBLING RAPIDLY WITH A PERIOD OF ROUGHLY 0.7 SECONDS C86 RPM).
NO CONFIRMED TELEMETRY HAS BEEN INTERCEPTED FROM SPUTNIK 46 SINCE INITIAL REVOLUTION. TASS HAS MADE NO ANNOUNCEMENT CONCERNING THIS LAUNCH. THE SOVIETS NORMALLY ANNOUNCE A SUCCESSFUL OPERATION. DUE TO LACK OF TELEMETRY SINCE ZERO REVOLUTION, HIGH TUMBLE RATE OF PAYLOAD, AND ABSENCE OF SOVIET ANNOUNCEMENTS, IT IS TENTATIVELY SUGGESTED THAT THE PAYLOAD HAS FAILED TO PERFORM SUCCESSFULLY.
FURTHER INFORMATION WILL BE FURNISHED AS AVAILABLE IN VIEW OF THE LACK OF PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS OF THIS LAUNCH, IT IS ANTICIPATED THAT SPADATS BULLETINS ON THIS LAUNCH WILL CONTINUE TO BE ISSUED AT SECRET LEVEL.
I was curious to know what this object may have been, as I was unaware of any probes launched around this time, so turned to the internet for answers. Research indicated that the object had been given the classification of 'Kosmos 21' - Kosmos being a label given to record failed launches or missions, which were not formally disclosed, as the Kremlin was not keen to publicise its failures, as the U.S did. Once more, with the iron curtain having been partly removed over the last few decades, information was more readily available.
The Kosmos 21 mission was to have been a test for a new planetary probe, which would ultimately produce the Venera series of vehicles and was based on the 3MV-1A base model. This included a sealed instrument component and a landing vehicle, attached to a motor unit. Kosmos 21 would have received the official designated of 'Zond 1' and was intended to be launched into high orbit, operate some remote manoeuvres and return to Earth. Unfortunately, due to the haste with which the probe was developed and problems with the Molniya launch vehicle, the final stage of the rocket had misfired and placed Kosmos 21 in an unstable orbit. Further problems had probably resulted in an onboard explosion, disabling the probe and resulting in the debris tail. The probe eventually re-entered the atmosphere and was destroyed.
Further problems with the 3MV-1A series continued, with a second launch in March the following year, which left the probe in high orbit. This was designated Kosmos 27.
Zond 1 made a successful launch as was officially recognised by the Soviet Union, but en route to Venus, problems with the casing led to depressurisation and a failure of the radio transmitter. The probe continued on its journey and silently passed Venus within 100,000 miles.
