Korabl-Sputnik 3

Korabl-Sputnik 3

Mission type	Biological Technology
Harvard designation	1960 Rho 1
SATCAT №	65
Mission duration	25 hours, 42 minutes
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft type	Vostok-1K
Manufacturer	OKB-1
Launch mass	4,563 kilograms (10,060 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	1 December 1960, 07:30:04 (1960-12-01UTC07:30:04Z) UTC
Rocket	Vostok-L 8K72 s/n L1-13
Launch site	Baikonur 1/5
End of mission
Disposal	Deorbited off-course Self-destructed
Decay date	2 December 1960 (1960-12-03)
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth
Perigee	166 kilometres (103 mi)
Apogee	232 kilometres (144 mi)
Inclination	64.97 degrees
Period	88.47 minutes

Korabl-Sputnik 3 (Russian: Корабль-Спутник 3 meaning Ship-Satellite 3) or Vostok-1K No.3, also known as Sputnik 6 in the West, was a Soviet spacecraft which was launched in 1960. It was a test flight of the Vostok spacecraft, carrying two dogs; Pcholka and Mushka ("little bee" and "little fly"; affectionate diminutives of "pchela" and "mukha", respectively), as well as a television camera and scientific instruments.

File:Sputnik 6 dog.png

Image of one of the dogs onboard Sputnik 6, demodulated by CIA electronic intelligence

Korabl-Sputnik 3 was launched at 07:30:04 UTC on 1 December 1960, atop a Vostok-L carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. It was successfully placed into low Earth orbit. The flight lasted one day, after which the spacecraft was deorbited ahead of its planned recovery. The deorbit burn began at 07:15 UTC on 2 December, however the engine did not cut off as planned at the end of the burn, and instead the spacecraft's fuel burned to depletion. This resulted in it reentering the atmosphere on a trajectory which might have permitted foreign powers to inspect the capsule. To prevent this, an explosive charge was detonated during reentry. Both Pchyolka and Mushka were killed in the resulting disintegration. They were the last dogs to die in a Soviet space mission, after Laika, who was never intended to survive her Sputnik 2 flight, and Chaika and Lisichka, perishing after the rocket carrying their "Korabl Sputnik" spacecraft disintegrated 20 seconds into the flight.

Three weeks later, a follow-up launch to Korabl-Sputnik 3 also failed. On 22 December, the dogs Damka and Krasavka lifted off from LC-1 using a booster with an enhanced Blok E stage which produced more thrust than the previous model. This variant (the 8K72K) would be used for manned Vostok launches. The strap-ons and core stage of the booster performed normally, but the untested new Blok E failed a few seconds after ignition when the gas generator malfunctioned. Since the engine could not produce sufficient thrust to achieve orbital velocity, the mission had to be aborted. The Vostok was ejected with the Blok E still firing and the dogs subjected to a rough ballistic reentry in freezing winter weather. Recovery crews frantically searched for the descent module before its automatic self-destruct mechanism activated, and after some hours, succeeded in disarming the mechanism and retrieving the dogs, which were returned to Baikonour Cosmodrome alive.