Zond 5

Zond-5 carried two 40-gram Horsfield tortoises each, as well as several hundred flies, Drosophilidae flies, sucker blackberries (a beetle), salads, algae and bacteria. The specimen survived the reentry. Zond-5 became the first spacecraft to circle the Moon and return to Earth. L1 was a Soviet spacecraft launched on Proton, designed in parallel of 7K-L1, which flew on the N-1 launcher. It was conceived to carry out crewed flybys of the Moon, like Apollo 8. This spacecraft sent the first living beings to fly over the Moon, turtles, on board Zond 5. The work made on this spacecraft will be used for the improvement of the Soyuz spacecraft.