Luna programme
Encyclopedia
Robotic spacecraft
A robotic spacecraft is a spacecraft with no humans on board, that is usually under telerobotic control. A robotic spacecraft designed to make scientific research measurements is often called a space probe. Many space missions are more suited to telerobotic rather than crewed operation, due to...
missions sent to the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
between 1959 and 1976. Fifteen were successful, each designed as either an orbiter
Orbiter
An orbiter is a space probe that orbits a planet.-Asteroids:*NEAR Shoemaker...
or lander
Lander (spacecraft)
A lander is a spacecraft which descends toward and comes to rest on the surface of an astronomical body. For bodies with atmospheres, the landing is called atmospheric reentry and the lander descends as a re-entry vehicle...
, and accomplished many firsts in space exploration. They also performed many experiments, studying the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature
Temperature
Temperature is a physical property of matter that quantitatively expresses the common notions of hot and cold. Objects of low temperature are cold, while various degrees of higher temperatures are referred to as warm or hot...
, and radiation
Radiation
In physics, radiation is a process in which energetic particles or energetic waves travel through a medium or space. There are two distinct types of radiation; ionizing and non-ionizing...
. Twenty-four spacecraft were formally given the Luna designation, although more were launched. Those that failed to reach orbit were not publicly acknowledged at the time, and not assigned a Luna number. Those that failed in low Earth orbit were usually given Cosmos designations. The estimated cost of Luna Program was about $4.5 billion.
Achievements
Luna 1Luna 1
Luna 1 , first known as First Cosmic Ship, then known as Mechta was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and the first of the Luna program of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations successfully launched in the direction of the Moon.While traveling through the outer Van Allen...
missed its intended impact with the Moon and became the first spacecraft to fall into orbit around the Sun
Sun
The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields...
.
In 1959, the Luna 2
Luna 2
Luna 2 was the second of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon...
mission successfully impacted upon the lunar surface, becoming the first man-made object to reach the Moon.
Luna 3
Luna 3
The Soviet space probe Luna 3 of 1959 was the third space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon, and this mission was an early feat in the spaceborne exploration of outer space...
rounded the Moon later that year, and returned the first photographs of its far side, which can never be seen from Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
.
Luna 9
Luna 9
Luna 9 was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna program. On February 3, 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on any planetary body other than Earth and to transmit photographic data to Earth.The automatic lunar station that achieved the...
became the first probe to achieve a soft landing on another planetary body (February 1966). It returned five black and white stereoscopic circular panoramas, which were the first close-up shots of the Lunar surface.
Later that year Luna 10
Luna 10
Luna 10 was a Luna program, robotic spacecraft mission, also called Lunik 10.The Luna 10 spacecraft was launched towards the Moon from an Earth orbiting platform on March 31, 1966. It was the first artificial satellite of the Moon...
became the first artificial satellite of the Moon.
Luna 17
Luna 17
-External links:*...
and Luna 21
Luna 21
-External links:*...
carried vehicles that roamed around on the Moon's terrain (see Lunokhod programme
Lunokhod programme
Lunokhod was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. The 1969 Lunokhod 1A was destroyed during launch, the 1970 Lunokhod 1 and the 1973 Lunokhod 2 landed on the moon and the 1977 Lunokhod was never launched...
).
Another major achievement of the Luna programme, with the Luna 16
Luna 16
-External links:*...
, Luna 20
Luna 20
Luna 20 was the second of three successful Soviet lunar sample return missions. It was flown as part of the Luna program, also called Lunik 20, as a robotic competitor to the six successful Apollo lunar sample return missions....
and Luna 24
Luna 24
-External links:*...
spacecraft, was the ability to collect samples of lunar soil
Lunar soil
Lunar soil is the fine fraction of the regolith found on the surface of the Moon. Its properties can differ significantly from those of terrestrial soil...
and return them to Earth, by 1970. The program returned 0.326 kg of lunar samples
Moon rock
Moon rock describes rock that formed on the Earth's moon. The term is also loosely applied to other lunar materials collected during the course of human exploration of the Moon.The rocks collected from the Moon are measured by radiometric dating techniques...
. The Luna missions were the first space-exploration sample return mission
Sample return mission
A sample return mission is a spacecraft mission with the goal of returning tangible samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. Sample return missions may bring back merely atoms and molecules or a deposit of complex compounds such as dirt and rocks...
s to rely solely on advanced robotics
Robotics
Robotics is the branch of technology that deals with the design, construction, operation, structural disposition, manufacture and application of robots...
.
Other notable missions
Luna 15Luna 15
-External links:*...
, also designed to return soil samples from the lunar surface, holds the significance of undergoing its mission at the same time as the historic Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
mission. Arguably a last-ditch attempt to steal thunder from the potential American success, it would have returned lunar samples to Earth before the Apollo astronauts could do so. However, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were already on the lunar surface when Luna 15 began its descent, and the spacecraft crashed into a mountain minutes later.
Failed missions
While the programme was active, it was Soviet practice not to release any details of missions which had failed to achieve orbit. This resulted in Western observers assigning their own designations to the missions, for example Luna E-1 No.1, the first failure of 1958 which NASA believed was associated with the Luna programme was known as Luna 1958A.NASA identified a spacecraft which it referred to as Luna 1966A as having launched on 30 April 1966, a spacecraft which it referred to as Luna 1969B as having launched on 15 April 1969, and a spacecraft which it referred to as Luna 1970B as having launched on 19 February 1970. When details of Soviet launches were later disclosed, no launches of Luna spacecraft were found to have occurred on those dates.
Missions
- Luna 1958ALuna 1958ALuna E-1 No.1, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1958A, was a Soviet Luna E-1 spacecraft which was intended to impact the Moon. It did not accomplish this objective as it was lost in a launch failure. It was the first of four E-1 missions to be launched.Luna E-1 No.1 was a spacecraft which...
- Launch failure September 23, 1958
- Lunar impact attempt
- Luna 1958BLuna 1958BLuna E-1 No.2, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1958B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1958. It was a Luna E-1 spacecraft, the second of four to be launched, all of which were involved in launch failures...
- Launch failure October 11, 1958
- Lunar impact attempt
- Luna 1958CLuna 1958CLuna E-1 No.3, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1958C, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1958. It was a Luna E-1 spacecraft, the third of four to be launched, all of which were involved in launch failures...
- Launch failure December 4, 1958
- Lunar impact attempt
- Luna 1Luna 1Luna 1 , first known as First Cosmic Ship, then known as Mechta was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Moon and the first of the Luna program of Soviet automatic interplanetary stations successfully launched in the direction of the Moon.While traveling through the outer Van Allen...
- Launched January 2, 1959
- Lunar (Impact) Flyby
- Luna 1959ALuna 1959ALuna E-1A No.1 or E-1 No.5, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1959A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1959. It was a Luna E-1A spacecraft, the first of two to be launched...
- Launch failure June 18, 1959
- Lunar impact attempt
- Luna 2Luna 2Luna 2 was the second of the Soviet Union's Luna programme spacecraft launched to the Moon. It was the first spacecraft to reach the surface of the Moon...
- Launched September 12, 1959
- Lunar impact September 14, 1959 at ~07:30:00 UT
- Latitude 29.10 N, Longitude 0.00 - Palus PutredinisPalus PutredinisPalus Putredinus is an area of the lunar surface that stretches from the crater Archimedes southeast toward the rugged Montes Apenninus range located on the southeastern edge of Mare Imbrium. This region is a nearly level, lava-flooded plain bounded by the crater Autolycus to the north and the...
- Luna 3Luna 3The Soviet space probe Luna 3 of 1959 was the third space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon, and this mission was an early feat in the spaceborne exploration of outer space...
- Launched October 4, 1959
- Lunar Flyby
- Luna 1960ALuna 1960ALuna E-3 No.1, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1960A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1960. It was a Luna E-3 spacecraft, the first of two to be launched, both of which were lost in launch failures. It was intended to fly around the moon on a circumlunar...
- Launch failure April 15, 1960
- Lunar flyby attempt
- Luna 1960BLuna 1960BLuna E-3 No.2, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1960B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1960. It was a Luna E-3 spacecraft, the second of two to be launched, both of which were lost in launch failures. It was intended to fly around the moon on a circumlunar...
- Launch failure April 19, 1960
- Lunar flyby attempt
- Luna - Sputnik 25Sputnik 25Luna E-6 No.2, also identified as No.1, and sometimes known in the West as Sputnik 25, was a Soviet spacecraft which launched in 1963, but was placed into a useless orbit due to a problem with the upper stage of the rocket that launched it...
- Launched January 4, 1963 (failed to escape orbit and decayed back into the atmosphere after just one day)
- Soft landing attempt
- Luna 1963BLuna 1963BLuna E-6 No.3, also identified as No.2 and sometimes by NASA as Luna 1963B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1963. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the second of twelve to be launched, and the second consecutive launch failure...
- Launch failure February 3, 1963
- Soft landing attempt
- Luna 4Luna 4Luna 4 was the USSR's first successful spacecraft of their "second generation" Luna program. The spacecraft, rather than being sent on a straight trajectory toward the Moon, was placed first in a low Earth orbit and then the rocket stage reignited to send it on a curving path towards the...
- Launched April 2, 1963
- Lunar Flyby (Soft landing attempt)
- Luna 1964ALuna 1964ALuna E-6 No.6, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1964A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1964. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the fourth of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would...
- Launch failure March 21, 1964
- Soft landing attempt
- Luna 1964BLuna 1964BLuna E-6 No.5, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1964B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1964. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the fifth of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would...
- Launch failure April 20, 1964
- Soft landing attempt
- Luna - Cosmos 60Cosmos 60Kosmos 60 was an E-6 series probe, launched by the Soviet Union on March 12, 1965. It was the sixth attempt at a lunar soft-landing mission, with a design similar to that of Luna 4...
- Launched March 12, 1965 (failed to escape orbit and decayed back into the atmosphere after five days)
- Soft landing attempt
- Luna 1965ALuna 1965ALuna E-6 No.8, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1965A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1965. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the seventh of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would...
- Launch failure April 10, 1965
- Soft landing attempt
- Luna 5Luna 5Luna 5 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 5. It was designed to continue investigations of a lunar soft landing. The retrorocket system failed, and the spacecraft impacted the lunar surface at the Sea of Clouds....
- Launched May 9, 1965
- Lunar impact (soft landing attempt) - Sea of Clouds
- Luna 6Luna 6Luna 6 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 6. Luna 6 was intended to travel to the Moon, but, because a mid-course correction failed, it missed the Moon by 159,612.8 km....
- Launched June 8, 1965
- Attempted Lander - Missed Moon
- Luna 7Luna 7Luna 7 was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Luna program, also called Lunik 7. The Luna 7 spacecraft was intended to achieve a soft landing on the Moon...
- Launched October 4, 1965
- Lunar Impact - Oceanus ProcellarumOceanus ProcellarumOceanus Procellarum is a vast lunar mare on the western edge of the near side of the Earth's Moon. Its name derives from the old superstition that its appearance during the second quarter heralded bad weather...
- Luna 8Luna 8Luna 8 , also known as Lunik 8, was a lunar space probe of the Luna program. It was launched with the objective of achieving a soft landing on the Moon. However, its retrorocket firing occurred too late, and suffered a hard impact on the lunar surface on the Oceanus Procellarum...
- Launched December 3, 1965
- Lunar Impact - Sea of Storms
- Luna 9Luna 9Luna 9 was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna program. On February 3, 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on any planetary body other than Earth and to transmit photographic data to Earth.The automatic lunar station that achieved the...
- Launched January 31, 1966
- Landed on Moon February 3, 1966 at 18:44:52 UT
- Latitude 7.08 N, Longitude 295.63 E - Oceanus ProcellarumOceanus ProcellarumOceanus Procellarum is a vast lunar mare on the western edge of the near side of the Earth's Moon. Its name derives from the old superstition that its appearance during the second quarter heralded bad weather...
- Luna - Cosmos 111Cosmos 111Kosmos 111 was the first Soviet attempt to orbit a spacecraft around the Moon. The design was probably similar to the later successful Luna 10 spacecraft. It was launched on March 1, 1966. The mission was a failure. The Blok-L upper stage lost roll control and failed to send the spacecraft on a...
- Launched March 1, 1966 (failed to escape orbit and decayed back into the atmosphere after two days)
- Lunar orbit attempt
- Luna 10Luna 10Luna 10 was a Luna program, robotic spacecraft mission, also called Lunik 10.The Luna 10 spacecraft was launched towards the Moon from an Earth orbiting platform on March 31, 1966. It was the first artificial satellite of the Moon...
- Launched March 31, 1966
- Lunar Orbiter
- Luna 11Luna 11Luna 11 was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna program. It is also called Lunik 11.Luna 11 was launched towards the Moon from an earth-orbiting platform and entered lunar orbit on 27 August 1966...
- Launched August 24, 1966
- Lunar Orbiter
- Luna 12Luna 12-External links:*...
- Launched October 22, 1966
- Lunar Orbiter
- Luna 13Luna 13-External links:* *...
- Launched December 21, 1966
- Landed on Moon December 24, 1966 at 18:01:00 UT
- Latitude 18.87 N, 297.95 E - Oceanus Procellarum
- Luna 1968ALuna 1968ALuna E-6LS No.112, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1968A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1968. It was a Luna E-6LS spacecraft, the second of three to be launched...
- Launch failure February 7, 1968
- Lunar Orbiter attempt
- Luna 14Luna 14-External links:*...
- Launched April 7, 1968
- Lunar Orbiter
- Luna 1969ALuna 1969ALuna E-8 No.201, also known as Luna Ye-8 No.201, and sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1969A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1969. It was a Luna E-8 spacecraft, the first of three to be launched, It was intended to perform a soft landing on the Moon, in order to...
- Launch failure February 19, 1969
- Lunar Rover attempt
- Luna 1969CLuna 1969CLuna E-8-5 No.402, also known as Luna Ye-8-5 No.402, and sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1969C, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1969. It was a Luna E-8-5 spacecraft, the first of eight to be launched. It was intended to perform a soft landing on the Moon, collect...
- Launch failure June 14, 1969
- Lunar Sample Return attempt
- Luna 15Luna 15-External links:*...
- Launched July 13, 1969
- Lunar Orbiter (attempted lander)
- Luna - Cosmos 300Cosmos 300Kosmos 300 was the fourth Soviet attempt at an unmanned lunar sample return. It was probably similar in design to the later Luna 16 spacecraft. It was launched, on a Proton rocket, on September 23, 1969. The mission was a failure. The engines on the Block D upper stage failed, leaving the...
- Launched September 23, 1969
- Lunar Sample Return attempt (failed to escape orbit and decayed back into the atmosphere after four days)
- Luna - Cosmos 305Cosmos 305Kosmos 305 was the fifth Soviet attempt at an unmanned lunar sample return. It was probably similar in design to the Luna 16 spacecraft. It was launched, on a Proton rocket, on October 22, 1969. The engines on the Block D upper stage failed, terminating the mission. This left the spacecraft...
- Launched October 22, 1969
- Lunar Sample Return attempt (failed to escape orbit and decayed back into the atmosphere after two days)
- Luna 1970ALuna 1970ALuna E-8-5 No.405, also known as Luna Ye-8-5 No.405, and sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1970A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1970. It was a Luna E-8-5 spacecraft, the fifth of eight to be launched...
- Launch failure February 6, 1970
- Lunar Sample Return attempt
- Luna 16Luna 16-External links:*...
- Launched September 12, 1970
- Landed on Moon September 20, 1970 at 05:18:00 UT
- Latitude 0.68 S, Longitude 56.30 E - Mare FecunditatisMare FecunditatisMare Fecunditatis is a lunar mare which is 840 km in diameter. The Fecuditatis basin formed in the Pre-Nectarian epoch, while the basin material surrounding the mare is of the...
- Lunar Sample Return to Earth September 24, 1970
- Luna 17Luna 17-External links:*...
/Lunokhod 1- Launched November 10, 1970
- Landed on Moon November 17, 1970 at 03:47:00 UT
- Latitude 38.28 N, Longitude 325.00 E - Mare ImbriumMare ImbriumMare Imbrium, Latin for "Sea of Showers" or "Sea of Rains", is a vast lunar mare filling a basin on Earth's Moon and one of the larger craters in the Solar System. Mare Imbrium was created when lava flooded the giant crater formed when a very large object hit the Moon long ago...
- Lunar Rover - Lunokhod 1Lunokhod 1Lunokhod 1 was the first of two unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of its Lunokhod program. The spacecraft which carried Lunokhod 1 was named Luna 17...
- Luna 18Luna 18Luna 18 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 18.Luna 18 was placed in an earth parking orbit after it was launched and was then sent towards the Moon. On September 7, 1971, it entered lunar orbit. The spacecraft completed 85 communications sessions and 54 lunar...
- Launched September 2, 1971
- Lunar Impact (Lunar Sample Return attempt)
- Latitude 3.57 N, Longitude 50.50 E - Mare Fecunditatis
- Luna 19Luna 19Luna 19 , was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program. Luna 19 extended the systematic study of lunar gravitational fields and location of mascons . It also studied the lunar radiation environment, the gamma-active lunar surface, and the solar wind...
- Launched September 28, 1971
- Lunar Orbiter
- Luna 20Luna 20Luna 20 was the second of three successful Soviet lunar sample return missions. It was flown as part of the Luna program, also called Lunik 20, as a robotic competitor to the six successful Apollo lunar sample return missions....
- Launched February 14, 1972
- Landed on Moon February 21, 1972 at 19:19:00 UT
- Latitude 3.57 N, Longitude 56.50 E - Mare Fecunditatis
- Lunar Sample Return to Earth February 25, 1972
- Luna 21Luna 21-External links:*...
/Lunokhod 2- Launched January 8, 1973
- Landed on Moon January 15, 1973 at 23:35:00 UT
- Latitude 25.85 N, Longitude 30.45 E - LeMonnier Crater
- Lunar Rover - Lunokhod 2Lunokhod 2Lunokhod 2 was the second of two unmanned lunar rovers landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of the Lunokhod program....
- Luna 22Luna 22Luna 22 was an unmanned space mission, part of the Soviet Luna program, also called Lunik 22.Luna 22 was a lunar orbiter mission...
- Launched May 29, 1974
- Lunar Orbiter
- Luna 23Luna 23Luna 23 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 23.Luna 23 was a Moon lander mission which was intended to return a lunar sample to Earth. Launched to the Moon by a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster, the spacecraft was damaged during landing in Mare Crisium...
- Launched October 28, 1974
- Lunar Lander (Lunar Sample Return attempt) - Mare CrisiumMare CrisiumMare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. This basin is of the Pre-Imbrian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. This mare is in diameter, and 176,000 km2 in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of wrinkled ridges...
- Luna 1975ALuna 1975ALuna E-8-5M No.412, also known as Luna Ye-8-5M No.412, and sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1975A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1975. It was a Luna E-8-5M spacecraft, the second of three to be launched...
- Launch failure October 16, 1975
- Lunar Sample Return attempt - Mare CrisiumMare CrisiumMare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. This basin is of the Pre-Imbrian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. This mare is in diameter, and 176,000 km2 in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of wrinkled ridges...
- Luna 24Luna 24-External links:*...
- Launched August 9, 1976
- Landed on Moon August 18, 1976 at 02:00:00 UT
- Latitude 12.25 N, Longitude 62.20 E - Mare Crisium
- Lunar Sample Return to Earth August 22, 1976 Mare CrisiumMare CrisiumMare Crisium is a lunar mare located in the Moon's Crisium basin, just northeast of Mare Tranquillitatis. This basin is of the Pre-Imbrian period, 4.55 to 3.85 billion years ago. This mare is in diameter, and 176,000 km2 in area. It has a very flat floor, with a ring of wrinkled ridges...
See also
- Luna 8K72
- Soviet moonshotSoviet MoonshotThe Soviet manned lunar programs were a series of programs pursued by the Soviet Union to land a man on the Moon in competition with the United States Apollo program to achieve the same goal set publicly by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961...
- Soviet space programSoviet space programThe Soviet space program is the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991...