Completed · Success
Soviet Ye-6LS lunar orbiter flown mainly to test communications systems between a spacecraft at the Moon and ground stations on Earth in preparation for the planned Soviet crewed lunar orbiter, while also mapping the lunar gravity field and measuring charged particles.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape Stage
- Launch site
- Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R
- Countries
- Soviet Union
- Mission types
- Orbiter
Chronology
Mission timeline
Mission architecture
Vehicles
Luna 14 · Orbiter
Destinations: Moon
Trajectory record
Trajectory dataset not yet available
Known dates and encounters do not uniquely determine a flight path. This mission’s sourced timeline is available above; no verified trajectory is currently published here.
What is needed to reconstruct this path?
- A frame-qualified position and vector velocity at an epoch, or equivalent complete orbital elements.
- Approach/departure directions and burn vectors between the reported encounters; body names and encounter distances alone are insufficient.
- The NASA scalar apsis altitudes lack a reference radius, complete orientation and orbital phase; no runnable trajectory follows from them alone.
- NASA Beyond Earth reports a 270 km initial apoapsis while NSSDCA reports 870 km for the same insertion; the conflict is unresolved.
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through October 12, 2026
- Luna 14 - NASA NSSDCA Spacecraft Details — NSSDCAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Luna 14 mission, spacecraft and orbital records — NSSDCATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016: Luna 11, 12, and 14 inventories and lunar orbits — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- DE421 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFTechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- DE440 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- IAU rotational elements and body radii (PCK 00011) — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA global lunar height maps, LDEM_4 V3 original PDS source label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA 2023 south-polar elevation, uncertainty and effective-resolution maps — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Seen From Above: LROC site and terrain context — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Moon Facts — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context
- SLDEM2015 Blue Ghost region: original PDS elevation-grid label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- JPL Solar System Dynamics Astrodynamic Parameters — JPLOther · Supports: destination/body context
- Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context