Luna E-6 No.8

{{Short description|1965 Soviet space launch failure}}

{{Infobox spaceflight

| name = Luna E-6 No.8

| image =

| image_caption =

| mission_type = Lunar lander

| operator = Soviet space program

| mission_duration = Failed to orbit

| spacecraft_type = Ye-6

| manufacturer = OKB-1

| dry_mass =

| launch_mass = {{convert|1422|kg}}

| power =

| launch_date = {{start-date|10 April 1965,}}

| launch_rocket = Molniya-L 8K78L {{nowrap|s/n R103-26}}

| launch_site = Baikonur 1/5

| programme = Luna programme

| previous_mission = Kosmos 60

| next_mission = Luna 5

}}

Luna E-6 No.8 (Ye-6 series), sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1965A,{{cite web |url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/tent_launch.html |title=Tentatively Identified Missions and Launch Failures |publisher=NASA NSSDC|first=David R.|last=Williams|accessdate=30 July 2010|date=6 January 2005}} was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1965. It was a {{convert|1422|kg|adj=on}} Luna Ye-6 spacecraft,{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lunae6.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020225144738/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lunae6.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=February 25, 2002|title=Luna E-6|last=Wade|first=Mark|publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica|accessdate=27 July 2010}} the seventh of twelve to be launched,{{cite web|url=http://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e6.htm|title=Luna E-6|last=Krebs|first=Gunter|publisher=Gunter's Space Page|accessdate=27 July 2010}} It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final Ye-6 spacecraft, Luna 9.

Luna E-6 No.8 was launched on 10 April 1965, atop a Molniya-L 8K78L carrier rocket, flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome.{{cite web|url=http://planet4589.org/space/log/launchlog.txt|title=Launch Log|last=McDowell|first=Jonathan|publisher=Jonathan's Space Page|accessdate=27 July 2010}} During third stage flight, a nitrogen pipeline in the oxidiser tank depressurised, which caused a loss of oxidiser flow to the engine and resulted in the engine cutting off. The spacecraft failed to achieve orbit, and the spacecraft disintegrated on reentry.{{cite web|url=http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/soyuz.htm |title=Soyuz |last=Wade |first=Mark |publisher=Encyclopedia Astronautica |accessdate=27 July 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100107163113/http://astronautix.com/lvs/soyuz.htm |archivedate=7 January 2010 }} Prior to the release of information about its mission, NASA correctly identified that it had been an attempt to land a spacecraft on the Moon.