Astronomy: Luna

On 3 August 1966 the Russian Luna became the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon. It revealed that the radiation field in lunar orbit would not be harmful. Luna 11-14 were used to map the Moon's surface. In 1968 the Russians were ready for a manned Moon mission. During the race for the Moon between the former Soviet Union and the United States, the Russians sensed that they were behind on the Americans. Luna 15 was designed to be an unmanned mission to land and take moonground samples back to Earth. Luna 15 took off on 13 July 1969. On 21 July when Apollo 11 was preparing to lift off, Luna 15 crashed into the Sea of Crises. One year later Luna 16 accomplished the Luna 15 mission and took home 101 gram from the Sea of Fertility. Six weeks later in November 1970 the first unmanned rover vehicle, the Lunakhod 1 arrived with Luna 17 on the Moon surface and for 321 days drove in the Bay of Rainbows. With camera's scientists on Earth watched the surface. Lunakhod 2 arrived on the Moon in January 1973 exploring mountanous terrain. The final Luna mission, Luna 24, was launched in 1976 and recovered ground samples from a depth of 2 meters below the surface. Related subjects >> the Moon >> Zond missions >> Ranger missions >> Surveyor missions >> Apollo missions

The first unmanned rover vehicle Lunakhod 1 drove on the Moon in 1970