To carry out the first lunar missions with Ye-6 Luna unmanned landers, the 8K78 launcher (later Molniya) was developed. The first and second stages were designed by Glushko (OKN-453), the third by Kosberg (OKB-154), and the fourth by Korolev (OKB-1). In October 1960, two probes were launched to Mars, but both failed. In February, one was launched to Venus, and one succeeded. Three more launches to Venus failed in 1962. The American report of these failures was widely dismissed as propaganda, because no country could stubbornly continue launching despite all these failures… No country except the Soviet Union. It would be launched 380 times, until its retirement in 2010.
