The Complete Book of Spaceflight: From Apollo 1 to Zero Gravity

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Aseries of Soviet Moon probes, including orbiters,
landers, and sample-return craft, launched
between 1959 and 1976. Lunas were the first humanmade
objects to reach escape velocity, crash into the
Moon, photograph the Moon’s farside, soft-land on
the Moon, automatically return lunar surface material
to Earth, and deploy a rover on the Moon’s surface.
The success of the first three Lunas (known in the
West as “Luniks”), was followed by a gap of three and
a half years while the Soviets developed a more
sophisticated strategy for lunar exploration. This
involved placing a probe in a temporary parking orbit
around Earth before firing a rocket to put the craft on
a lunar trajectory—in principle, a more accurate
method than direct ascent (that is, shooting straight at
the Moon from the ground). However, Lunas 4
through 8 all failed, for various reasons, in their
attempts to soft-land. Success came again with Luna
9, the first spacecraft to send back photos from the
lunar surface. Lunas 10 to 12 and 14 were orbiters,
designed in part to provide detailed photographic
maps and collect other data that were essential to the
Soviet manned lunar program.
Then came a sudden shift in emphasis. With the
Moon Race lost to the Americans, the Soviets began
launching much larger Lunas—three times more massive
than the earlier craft—requiring the more powerful
but (then) less reliable Proton rocket. Several of the
new generation of Lunas (though not officially named
as such) were left stranded in Earth orbit before Luna
15 was successfully placed on a lunar trajectory just
two days ahead of Apollo 11. Its audacious mission,
to upstage Apollo 11, ended when it crashed on July
21, just as Armstrong and Aldrin were preparing to
leave the Moon. Subsequent heavy Lunas, however,
were for the most part highly successful, returning
several samples along with other valuable data and
delivering the first automated rovers to explore
another world. (See table, “Luna Missions.”)
Luna 1
The first human-made object to reach escape velocity;
it was supposed to hit the Moon, but a failure of the
launch vehicle’s control system caused it to miss by
about 6,000 km. En route, the probe released a cloud
Luna
of sodium gas (as did Luna 2), the glowing orange trail
of which allowed astronomers to track the progress of
the spacecraft visually. Luna 1, also known as Mechta
(“dream”), measured the strength of the solar wind
and showed that the Moon had no magnetic field.
Luna 2
The first probe to hit the Moon. On impact, east of
the Sea of Serenity, it scattered a number of Soviet
emblems and ribbons across the surface. About 30
minutes later, the final stage of Luna 2’s booster
rocket made its own fresh crater.
Luna 3
The first probe to return images of the lunar farside.
Luna 3 was launched on a figure-eight trajectory,
bringing it within 6,200 km of the Moon and around
the farside, which was sunlit at the time. The 17 indistinct
pictures received from the spacecraft showed the
farside to be mountainous with two dark regions,
which were subsequently named Mare Moscovrae
(“Sea of Moscow”) and Mare Desiderii (“Sea of
Dreams”).
Lunas 4 to 8
The first Lunas to be placed in low Earth parking orbit
prior to lunar trajectory insertion. All attempted soft
landings, and all failed because of faulty rocket firings
in Earth orbit, in midcourse, or during descent to the
lunar surface.
Luna 9
The first successful lunar soft-lander. The landing capsule
was a 100-kg sphere, which was dropped roughly
onto the Ocean of Storms by a cylindrical mother
craft that carried the main braking rocket and fell to
destruction after its work was done. Once the lander
had rolled to a stop, four petal-like covers opened and
four radio antennas extended, allowing Luna 9 to
remain in contact with Earth for the next three days.
Its TV camera sent back images that, when pieced
together, provided a panoramic view of the surface,