Luna 6, or E-6 No.7 (Ye-6 series) was an uncrewed Soviet spacecraft which was intended to perform a landing on the Moon as part of the Luna program. Due to the failure of a mid-course correction manoeuvre, Luna 6 failed to land, instead flying past the Moon at a distance of 160,000 kilometres (99,000 mi).
The Luna 6 mission proceeded as planned until a scheduled mid-course correction late on 9 June. Although the spacecraft's S5.5A main engine ignited on time, it failed to cut off and continued to fire until its propellant supply was exhausted. An investigation later determined that the problem had been due to a command which had been mistakenly sent to the timer that ordered the main engine to shut down.[3]
Despite the spacecraft being unable to land on the Moon, controllers used the spacecraft to simulate a landing; a task which was satisfactorily accomplished. Luna 6 flew past the Moon late on 11 June,[1] with a closest approach of 159,612.8 kilometres (99,178.8 mi). Contact was maintained to a distance of 600,000 kilometres (370,000 mi) from Earth.
Payloads are separated by bullets ( · ), launches by pipes ( | ). Crewed flights are indicated in underline. Uncatalogued launch failures are listed in italics. Payloads deployed from other spacecraft are denoted in (brackets).
