Lunar Exploration
Return flight of Luna 20 from the Moon.
The Luna program was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. The program 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.
Sep 23, 1958 — Aug 22, 1976
Orbital Attempt
#1,316
CCCP Mission
#638
Pad Launch
#1
Location Launch
#1
Feb 22, 1972, 10:58 PM
Minute
1 update
Landing site of the successful Soviet lunar sample return mission Luna 20 on 21 February 1972.
Total Launches
1
Orbital Attempts
1
Ascent stage of the lunar lander used for the Soviet Luna sample return missions.
Reusable
No
Maiden Flight
1970
Fastest Turnaround
1y 5mo
Total Launches
3
Successful
3
Failed
0
Consecutive Success
3
Maiden flight: Sep 21, 1970
The Soviet space program, was the national space program of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) actived from 1930s until disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991. The Soviet Union's space program was mainly based on the cosmonautic exploration of space and the development of the expandable launch vehicles, which had been split between many design bureaus competing against each other. Over its 60-years of history, the Russian program was responsible for a number of pioneering feats and accomplishments in the human space flight, including the first intercontinental ballistic missile (R-7), first satellite (Sputnik 1), first animal in Earth orbit (the dog Laika on Sputnik 2), first human in space and Earth orbit (cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1), first woman in space and Earth orbit (cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova on Vostok 6), first spacewalk (cosmonaut Alexei Leonov on Voskhod 2), first Moon impact (Luna 2), first image of the far side of the Moon (Luna 3) and unmanned lunar soft landing (Luna 9), first space rover (Lunokhod 1), first sample of lunar soil automatically extracted and brought to Earth (Luna 16), and first space station (Salyut 1). Further notable records included the first interplanetary probes: Venera 1 and Mars 1 to fly by Venus and Mars, respectively, Venera 3 and Mars 2 to impact the respective planet surface, and Venera 7 and Mars 3 to make soft landings on these planets.
Founded
1931
Total Launches
2,456
Successful
2,288
Failed
168
Pending
0
Consecutive Success
17
Mountainous area near Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fertility).
Total Launches
1
Total Landings
0
Coordinates
3.7863, 56.6242