Failed · Failure
The second 3MV Object-Probe technology attempt failed at third-stage ignition on February 19, 1964, after a leaking oxygen valve caused a frozen fuel pipeline to rupture. It did not attain Earth orbit. Both inspected accounts identify a flyby/technology bus without a carried lander.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- SL-6/A-2-e (8K78 Molniya)
- Launch site
- Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome)
- Countries
- Soviet Union
- Mission types
- Flyby
Chronology
Mission timeline
Launch
Lost when the third stage exploded at ignition
NSSDCA's tentative-launches page records that launch from Baikonur took place on 19 February 1964 at 05:47:40 UT and that the spacecraft and SL-6/A-2-e (8K78 Molniya) launcher failed to attain Earth orbit when a frozen pipeline burst at third stage ignition causing the stage to explode. Source review: NSSDCA labels the target Venus; the NASA history describes a roughly four-month deep-space systems test to about 40 million km in the direction of Venus, not an achieved encounter. The tentative-launch page calls Cosmos 27 earlier, although its March 27 launch follows February 19. This wording is a source chronology error, not a reason to change either launch date.
Earth
Mission architecture
Vehicles
Venera 1964A · Spacecraft
Destinations: Venus
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.
- 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
- Tentatively Identified Missions and Launch Failures - NASA NSSDCA — NSSDCAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Siddiqi (2018): Beyond Earth, a chronicle of deep space exploration 1958–2016 — NASAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Tentatively Identified Missions and Launch Failures: Venus entries inspected September 2026 — NSSDCAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Chronology of Venus Exploration: original catalog inconsistencies retained — NSSDCAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context