    zond 6, a formal member of the soviet zond program and unmanned version of soyuz 7k-l1 manned moon-flyby spacecraft, was launched on a lunar flyby mission from a parent satellite (68-101b) in earth parking orbit. the spacecraft, which carried scientific probes including cosmic ray and micrometeoroid detectors, photography equipment, and a biological payload, was a precursor to a manned circumlunar flight which the soviets hoped could occur in december 1968, beating the american apollo 8. ==mission== zond 6 flew around the moon on 14 november 1968, at a minimum distance of 2420&nbsp;km. photographs of the lunar near side and far side were obtained with panchromatic film. each photo was . some of the views allowed for stereo pictures. the photos were taken from distances of approximately 11,000&nbsp;km and 3300&nbsp;km. a skip reentry of the spacecraft did not occur. zond 6 landed in kazakhstan, near the designated landing area. unfortunately, the parachute separated prematurely, and the reentry capsule crash-landed. zond 6 used a relatively uncommon technique called "skip reentry" to shed velocity upon returning to earth. a few hours before reentry, on 17 november 1968, a faulty o-ring rubber gasket caused the cabin to depressurise, killing all the animal test subjects aboard. zond 6's parachutes also deployed too early and it crashed on soviet soil. only one negative was recovered from the camera container and a small victory obtained over the americans. for propaganda reasons, the soviets claimed the flight was a success, but they were not able to launch a manned flight to the moon before apollo 8. a state commission investigating the crash later determined that the coronal discharge effect which caused the parachute to jettison would only occur at the 25&nbsp;mm capsule pressure. if the capsule had been completely depressurised to a high vacuum, the accident would not have occurred. zond 6 was the official designation for [[soyuz 7k-l1]
1968_in_the_Soviet_Union Life_in_space Lunar_flybys Missions_to_the_Moon Spacecraft_launched_in_1968 Zond_program