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Mission record

Mars 1960A

Also known as Korabl 4, Marsnik1, 1M No.1, Marsnik 1

U.S.S.R · Launched

Explore trajectory

Failed · Failure

An intended Soviet Mars flyby probe lost during ascent on October 10, 1960. Vibrations disrupted the booster guidance and the payload returned to Earth without reaching orbit. NSSDCA and the later NASA chronology disagree on the exact engine-cutoff time; the latter distinguishes guidance failure at T+309.9 seconds from engine shutdown at T+324.2 seconds.

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
Flyby

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Mission end

    Lost during ascent; Earth orbit not reached

    The 1M no.1 payload launched on October 10, 1960 but did not reach Earth orbit. Its actual flight ended during the Molniya ascent over eastern Siberia; the May 1961 Mars flyby was an unrealized plan. The exact final impact/breakup clock and coordinate are not established by the inspected sources.

    Earth

  2. Launch

    Launched from Tyuratam and lost during ascent

    NSSDCA's launch/orbital information page gives the launch date and time as 1960-10-10T14:27:49Z. Vibrations due to the ignition of the second stage damaged the gyroscopic pitch control, causing the rocket to veer off-course. The emergency cutoff of engine procedure was instituted at 309.9 seconds after launch. The spacecraft reached an altitude of 120 km before reentry, eventually crashing in eastern Siberia. NASA's later Beyond Earth chronology instead distinguishes guidance failure at 309.9 seconds from engine cutoff at 324.2 seconds; the exact cutoff remains a source conflict.

    Earth

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Mars 1960A · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Mars

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.
  • Finer event-time constraints where required by an orbital reconstruction; the stored day/month/year precision is retained.
  • The actual failed-flight state history. Intended destinations are not evidence that the spacecraft reached them.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 14, 2026