Zond (L1)

The circumlunar spacecraft meant to send a cosmonaut around the Moon before Apollo

Background

Zond was a stripped-down Soyuz, launched by Proton, intended to loop a lone cosmonaut around the Moon and back, the Soviet bid to reach the Moon first, if only by flyby. Leonov trained to command it.

The uncrewed test flights carried tortoises, insects and seeds around the Moon (Zond 5, 1968, the first living creatures to circle it and return) and returned photographs of the far side. But the programme was plagued by failures, and Apollo 8's crewed lunar orbit in December 1968 removed the point of a mere flyby.

The crewed circumlunar mission was cancelled. Like the N1, Zond became one of the great might-have-beens of the Soviet Moon effort.

Key facts