Success
Luna-3
Lunar Exploration
Soviet Space Program(CCCP)Government
Vostok-L 8K72
Lunar flybyorbit
Luna 3 was a Soviet spacecraft and was the first ever mission to photograph the far side of the moon.
Sunday, October 4, 1959 at 12:43 AM
Mission details
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
#50
CCCP Mission
#11
Pad Launch
#11
Location Launch
#11
Designator
1959-008
Launch Window
NET
Oct 4, 1959, 12:43 AM
Schedule Changes
1 update
Baikonur Cosmodrome, Republic of Kazakhstan
The Baikonur Cosmodrome is a spaceport operated by Russia within Kazakhstan. Located in the Kazakh city of Baikonur, it is the largest operational space launch facility in terms of area. All Russian crewed spaceflights are launched from Baikonur.
Timezone
Asia/Qyzylorda
Local Launch Time
Oct 4, 1959, 5:43 AM
Total Launches
1,563
Total Landings
0
Coordinates
45.9650, 63.3050
Vostok-L 8K72 Specs
The Vostok-L was a rocket used by the Soviet Union to conduct several early tests of the Vostok spacecraft
Length
30.84 m
Diameter
2.6 m
Launch Mass
277 t
Thrust
3,956 kN
LEO Capacity
4,000 kg
Reusable
No
Maiden Flight
1958
Fastest Turnaround
1d 1h
Total Launches
9
Successful
3
Failed
6
Consecutive Success
0
Maiden flight: Sep 23, 1958
Soviet Space Program
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