Sputnik 24

Sputnik 24 was an attempted Mars lander mission. The SL-6/A-2-e launcher put the spacecraft and the attached booster upper stage into a 197 x 590 km Earth orbit with an inclination of 64.7 degrees. The total mass of the

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booster/spacecraft complex (the Tyazheliy Sputnik) was roughly 6500 kg, the Mars spacecraft component comprising about 890 kg of this. The complex broke up during the burn to transfer to Mars trajectory. Five large pieces were tracked by the U.S. Ballistic Missile Early Warning System. The geocentric orbit of the presumed booster decayed on 25 December 1962 and the Mars spacecraft orbit decayed and it re-entered Earth's atmosphere on January 19, 1963.

This spacecraft was originally designated Sputnik 31 in the U.S. Naval Space Command Satellite Situation Summary.