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The programme accomplished many firsts in space exploration, including first flyby of the Moon, first impact of the Moon and first photos of the far side of the Moon. Each mission was designed as either an orbiter or lander. They also performed many experiments, studying the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation.
Luna 9 was the twelfth attempt at a soft-landing by the Soviet Union; it was also the first successful deep space probe built by the Lavochkin design bureau, which ultimately would design and build almost all Soviet (later Russian) lunar and interplanetary spacecraft.
The Soviet Union performed the first hard Moon landing – "hard" meaning the spacecraft intentionally crashes into the Moon at high speeds – with the Luna 2 spacecraft in 1959, a feat the U.S. duplicated in 1962 with Ranger 4.
With its soft landing, the Soviet Union became the first country to successfully land on the lunar surface. 38: Kosmos 111 (E-6S No.204) Kosmos 111: 1 March 1966: Molniya-M: Lavochkin: Orbiter: Launch failure Upper stage lost attitude control and failed to ignite; [39] spacecraft never left low Earth orbit. [40] 39: Luna 10 (E-6S No.206) Luna ...
Surveyor 3 on the Moon. The first image returned by Luna 3 showed the far side of the Moon. This is a list of robotic space probes that have flown by, impacted, orbited or landed on the Moon for the purpose of lunar exploration, as well as probes launched toward the Moon that failed to reach their target.
The satellite and rocket carrying Luna 1 was originally referred to as the Soviet Space Rocket by the Soviet Press. [1] Pravda writer Alexander Kazantsev called it Mechta (Russian: Мечта, meaning 'dream'). [7] [8] Citizens of Moscow unofficially deemed it Lunik, a combination of Luna (Moon) and Sputnik. [7] It was renamed to Luna 1 in 1963 ...
Luna 3, or E-2A No.1 (Russian: Луна 3), was a Soviet spacecraft launched in 1959 as part of the Luna programme.It was the first mission to photograph the far side of the Moon and the third Soviet space probe to be sent to the neighborhood of the Moon. [5]
1959: First man-made object to pass near the Moon, first man-made object in Heliocentric orbit, Luna 1. 1959: First probe to impact the Moon, Luna 2. 1959: First images of the Moon's far side, Luna 3. 1960: First animals to safely return from Earth orbit, the dogs Belka and Strelka on Sputnik 5. 1961: First probe launched to Venus, Venera 1.