Cosmos 434

LunarOrbiter
Name=Cosmos 434


Organization=Soviet Union
Contractors=
MissionType=
LaunchDate=1971-08-12 at 09:50:00 UTC
LaunchVehicle=Soyuz 11A511L.
MissionHighlight=
MissionDuration= August 22, 1981
Mass=7000 kg
NSSDC_ID=1971-069A
Web= [http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1971-069A NASA NSSDC Master Catalog]
SatelliteOf=Earth
SemiMajor=
Eccentricity= .006643
Inclination= 51.6°
Period=89 m
Apo=285 km
Peri=197 km
Orbits=
LunarLandingDate=
LunarLandingCoords=
LunarLiftoffDate=
Instruments=

Cosmos 434 was the final test of the LK Lander unmanned. It performed the longest burn of the three unmanned LK Lander tests. It finished in a 186 km by 11,804 km orbit. This test qualified the lander as flightworthy. The LK was the only hardware system of the Soviet lunar landing project reaching this status. In 1980-81 there were fears that it might carry nuclear fuel. When in reentered over Australia on August 22, 1981 the Soviet Foreign Ministry in Australia admitted that Cosmos 434 was an “experiment unit of a lunar cabin,” or lunar lander.

References

*Mir Hardware Heritage
** [http://ston.jsc.nasa.gov/collections/TRS/_techrep/RP1357.pdf Mir Hardware Heritage - NASA report (PDF format)]
**