[FPSPACE] July 1969 "Zond" with Luna 15 ?

[Phillip Clark]

A week or two ago it was suggested that the Soviets might have considered the flight of cosmonauts to selenocentric orbit in July 1969 aboard the second N-1 mission, and that they could have performed a rendezvous with the Luna 15 ascent stage and its samples from the lunar surface.

Since the Ye-5-8(M) sample return ascent stages did not have a pitchover capability, perhaps someone could please explain how Luna 15 could have been directed to selenocentric orbit ?   The lack of pitchover capability was pointed out as far back as 1972 by Dave Woods in his Aviation Week letter about the third generation Luna spacecraft.


Phillip Clark

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Phillip S Clark                      Flat 2 Wellington House
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Compiler/Publisher                   Hastings
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PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

(1)   The only way to comprehend the deeds and utterances of 
politicians is with the basic knowledge that they had their brains
surgically removed before they were allowed to enter politics: no 
counter-examples to disprove this theory are known.

(2)   Why should the Universe be comprehensible to human beings ?

(3)   "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana" from Beyond
Coincidence by Martin Plimmer and Brian King, page 28.

(4)   "To live outside the law you must be honest" (The Zim, 1966).
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