Kosmos 379 was a test of the LK Lander

LK Lander

The LK was a Soviet lunar lander and counterpart of the American Lunar Module . The LK was to have landed up to two cosmonauts on the Moon...

 (the Soviet version of the Apollo

Apollo spacecraft

The Apollo spacecraft was composed of five combined parts designed to accomplish the American Apollo program's goal of landing astronauts on the Moon by the end of the 1960s and returning them safely to Earth...

 LEM

Apollo Lunar Module

The Apollo Lunar Module was the lander portion of the Apollo spacecraft built for the US Apollo program by Grumman to carry a crew of two from lunar orbit to the surface and back...

). Earth orbit simulated propulsion system operations of a nominal lunar landing mission. Kosmos 379 entered a 192 to 232 km orbit. After three days fired its motor to simulate hover and touchdown on the moon, because of the burn in earth orbit the apogee increased to 1210 km. After a simulated stay on the Moon, it increased its speed by 1.5 km/s, simulating ascent to lunar orbit making the final apogee 14,035 km.
These main maneuvers were followed by a series of small adjustments simulating rendezvous and docking with the Soyuz 7K-L3

Soyuz 7K-L3

The Soyuz 7K-LOK, or simply LOK was a Soviet spacecraft designed to launch men from Earth to circle the moon and developed in parallel to the 7K-L1. The LOK would carry two cosmonauts into orbit around the Moon, acting as "mother" spacecraft for the LK Lander, which would land one member of the...

. The LK Lander

LK Lander

The LK was a Soviet lunar lander and counterpart of the American Lunar Module . The LK was to have landed up to two cosmonauts on the Moon...

 tested out without major problems and decayed from orbit on September 21, 1983.

Mission parameters

• Spacecraft: LK Lander
  LK Lander
  The LK was a Soviet lunar lander and counterpart of the American Lunar Module . The LK was to have landed up to two cosmonauts on the Moon...
  
  
• Mass: 5500 kg
• Crew: None
• Launched: November 24, 1970
• Landed:Reentered September 21, 1983
• Orbit: 192 km