"the only country to have successfully conducted manned missions to the Moon, with the last departing the lunar surface in December 1972. After the unsuccessful attempt by the Luna 1 to land on the Moon in 1959, the Soviet Union performed the first hard (unpowered) Moon landing later that same year with the Luna 2 spacecraft, a feat the U.S. duplicated in 1962 with Ranger 4. Since then, twelve Soviet and U.S. spacecraft have used braking rockets to make soft landings and perform scientific operations on the lunar surface, between 1966 and 1976. In 1966 the USSR accomplished the first"
"Luna programme The Luna programme (from the Russian word Луна ""Luna"" meaning ""Lunar"" or ""Moon""), occasionally called ""Lunik"" or ""Lunnik"" by western media, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. Fifteen were successful, each designed as either an orbiter or lander, and accomplished many firsts in space exploration. They also performed many experiments, studying the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Twenty-four spacecraft were formally given the Luna designation, although more were launched. Those that failed to reach orbit were not publicly acknowledged at the time, and"
"dates. Luna programme The Luna programme (from the Russian word Луна ""Luna"" meaning ""Lunar"" or ""Moon""), occasionally called ""Lunik"" or ""Lunnik"" by western media, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. Fifteen were successful, each designed as either an orbiter or lander, and accomplished many firsts in space exploration. They also performed many experiments, studying the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Twenty-four spacecraft were formally given the Luna designation, although more were launched. Those that failed to reach orbit were not publicly acknowledged at the time,"
"Luna E-1A No.1 Luna E-1A No.1 or E-1 No.5, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1959A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1959. It was a Luna E-1A spacecraft, the first of two to be launched. It was intended to impact the surface of the Moon, and in doing so would be the first man-made object to reach its surface. Launch was originally scheduled for June 16, but delayed two days after a careless lieutenant had the booster filled with the wrong grade of RP-1 propellant. Luna E-1A No.1 was launched at 08:08 UTC"
"Soviet space program The Soviet space program (Russian: Космическая программа СССР, ""Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR"") comprised several of the rocket and space exploration programs conducted by the Soviet Union (USSR) from the 1930s until its collapse in 1991. Over its sixty-year history, this primarily classified military program was responsible for a number of pioneering accomplishments in 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"
"Moon itself. Soyuz 7K-L1 No.5L Soyuz 7K-L1 No.5L, sometimes identified by NASA as Zond 1967B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was launched in 1967 as part of the Zond programme. It was a Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft, the second of nine to be launched. It was intended to perform a circumlunar flyby of the Moon before returning to the Earth for landing, but failed to achieve Earth orbit. Soyuz 7K-L1 No.5L was launched at 19:07:59 UTC on 22 November 1967 atop a Proton-K 8K78K carrier rocket with a Blok D upper stage, flying from Site 81/24 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. One"
"mission, NASA correctly identified that it had been an attempted Lunar impact mission, however they incorrectly believed that it had been launched on 16 June, two days before its actual launch. Luna E-1A No.1 Luna E-1A No.1 or E-1 No.5, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1959A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1959. It was a Luna E-1A spacecraft, the first of two to be launched. It was intended to impact the surface of the Moon, and in doing so would be the first man-made object to reach its surface. Launch was originally"
"Soviet Union (Vostok, Soyuz, Proton) and in the United States (e.g. the X-15 and X-20 Dyna-Soar aircraft). There was also significant research in other countries, such as France, Britain, Japan, Australia, etc., and a growing use of rockets for Space exploration, with pictures returned from the far side of the Moon and unmanned flights for Mars exploration. In America, the manned spaceflight programs, Project Mercury, Project Gemini, and later the Apollo program, culminated in 1969 with the first manned landing on the moon using the Saturn V, causing the New York Times to retract its earlier editorial implying that spaceflight"
"Kosmos 60 Kosmos 60 ( meaning ""Cosmos 60"") was an E-6 series probe, launched by the Soviet Union on March 12, 1965. It was the sixth attempt at a lunar soft-landing mission, with a design similar to that of Luna 4. The spacecraft achieved Earth orbit (apogee 287 km, perigee 201 km, inclination 64.8 degrees, orbital period 89 minutes) but failed to leave orbit for its journey to the Moon due to a failure of the power supply in the control system, and was designated Kosmos 60. It had an on-orbit mass of 6530 kg (14,400 lb). The satellite reentered"
"every 96 minutes was widely viewed on both sides as effective propaganda to Third World countries demonstrating the technological superiority of the Soviet political system compared to that of the U.S. This perception was reinforced by a string of subsequent rapid-fire Soviet space achievements. In 1959, the R-7 rocket was used to launch the first escape from Earth's gravity into a solar orbit, the first crash impact onto the surface of the Moon, and the first photography of the never-before-seen far side of the Moon. These were the Luna 1, Luna 2, and Luna 3 spacecraft. The U.S. response to"
"Luna E-1 No.2 Luna E-1 No.2, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1958B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1958. It was a Luna E-1 spacecraft, the second of four to be launched, all of which were involved in launch failures. It was intended to impact the surface of the Moon, and in doing so become the first man-made object to reach its surface. The spacecraft was intended to release of sodium, in order to create a cloud of the metal which could be observed from Earth, allowing the spacecraft to be tracked. Prior"
"of studying the moon.The program ran from 1959 to 1976 and consisted of 15 successful missions, the program achieved many first achievements and collected data on the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Luna 2 became the first man made object to make contact with the moons surface in September 1959. Luna 3 returned the first photographs of the far side of the moon in October 1959. The Vostok Programme the first Soviet spaceflight project to put the Soviet citizens into low Earth orbit and return them safely. The programme carried out six manned spaceflights between 1961 and 1963."
"Man in Space Soonest Man In Space Soonest (MISS) was a United States Air Force (USAF) program to put a man into outer space before the Soviet Union. The program was cancelled on August 1, 1958, and was replaced by NASA's Project Mercury. Only two men from the program would actually reach outer space. The first, Joseph A. Walker, did so twice in two X-15 rocket plane tests in 1963. Another, Neil Armstrong, became a NASA astronaut in 1962 and became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969. MISS would have used a Thor booster, then later"
"Soyuz 7K-L1 No.5L Soyuz 7K-L1 No.5L, sometimes identified by NASA as Zond 1967B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was launched in 1967 as part of the Zond programme. It was a Soyuz 7K-L1 spacecraft, the second of nine to be launched. It was intended to perform a circumlunar flyby of the Moon before returning to the Earth for landing, but failed to achieve Earth orbit. Soyuz 7K-L1 No.5L was launched at 19:07:59 UTC on 22 November 1967 atop a Proton-K 8K78K carrier rocket with a Blok D upper stage, flying from Site 81/24 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. One of the"
"Luna 9 Luna 9 (Луна-9), internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. On 3 February 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the Moon. The lander had a mass of . It used a landing bag to survive the impact speed of . It was a hermetically sealed container with radio equipment, a program timing device, heat control systems, scientific apparatus, power sources, and a television system. ""Luna 9"" was launched by a Molniya-M rocket, serial number 103-32, flying from Site 31/6 at the"
"in funding the subsequent year. This marked the beginning of the United States' mission to the Moon. In August 1957 the Soviet Union tested the world's first successful Intercontinental ballistic missile ( ICBM ), the R7 Semyorka. Within only two months of the launch of the Semyorka, Sputnik 1 became the first man made object in Earth's orbit. This was followed by the launch of Sputnik II which carried Laika the first living space traveller though she did not survive the trip. This led to the creation of the Vostok programme in 1960 and the first living creatures to survive"
"Luna 1 Luna 1, also known as Mechta ( , ""lit."": ""Dream""), E-1 No.4 and ""First Lunar Rover "", was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Earth's Moon, and the first spacecraft to be placed in heliocentric orbit. Intended as an impactor, ""Luna 1"" was launched as part of the Soviet Luna programme in 1959, however due to an incorrectly timed upper stage burn during its launch, it missed the Moon, in the process becoming the first spacecraft to leave geocentric orbit. While traveling through the outer Van Allen radiation belt, the spacecraft's scintillator made observations indicating"
"of lifting capability, was thus transferred to NASA. In 1958, Korolev upgraded the R-7 to be able to launch a payload to the Moon. Three secret 1958 attempts to launch Luna E-1-class impactor probes failed. The fourth attempt, Luna 1, launched successfully on January 2, 1959, but missed the Moon. The fifth attempt on June 18 also failed at launch. The Luna 2 successfully impacted the Moon on September 14, 1959. The Luna 3 successfully flew by the Moon and sent back pictures of its far side on October 6, 1959. The US reacted to the Luna program by embarking"
"Luna 6 Luna 6, or E-6 No.7 was an unmanned Soviet spacecraft which was intended to perform a landing on the Moon as part of the Luna program. Due to the failure of a mid-course correction manoeuvre, ""Luna 6"" failed to land, instead flying past the Moon at a distance of . ""Luna 6"" was launched by a Molniya-M carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Liftoff occurred at 07:40 UTC on 8 June 1965, with the spacecraft and Blok L upper stage entering a low Earth parking orbit, before the upper stage propelled the spacecraft into"
"Luna E-3 No.1 Luna E-3 No.1, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1960A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1960. It was a Luna E-3 spacecraft, the first of two to be launched, both of which were lost in launch failures. It was intended to fly around the Moon on a circumlunar trajectory in order to image the surface of the Moon, including the far side. The E-3 spacecraft were similar in design to the E-2A which had been used for the earlier Luna 3 mission. However, they carried higher resolution cameras, and were"
"Soviet crewed lunar programs The Soviet crewed lunar programs were a series of programmes pursued by the Soviet Union to land a man on the Moon, in competition with the United States Apollo program to achieve the same goal set publicly by President John F. Kennedy on May 25, 1961. The Soviet government publicly denied participating in such a competition, but secretly pursued two programs in the 1960s: crewed lunar flyby missions using Soyuz 7K-L1 (Zond) spacecraft launched with the Proton-K rocket, and a crewed lunar landing using Soyuz 7K-LOK and LK Lander spacecraft launched with the N1 rocket. Following"
"Zond 6 Zond 6, a formal member of the Soviet Zond program and unmanned version of Soyuz 7K-L1 manned moon-flyby spacecraft, was launched on a lunar flyby mission from a parent satellite (68-101B) in Earth parking orbit. The spacecraft, which carried scientific probes including cosmic ray and micrometeoroid detectors, photography equipment, and a biological payload, was a precursor to a manned circumlunar flight which the Soviets hoped could occur in December 1968, beating the American ""Apollo 8"". However, after orbiting the Moon Zond 6 crashed on its return to Earth due to a parachute failure. Zond 6 was the official"
"Luna E-1 No.3 Luna E-1 No.3, sometimes identified by NASA as ""Luna 1958C"", was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1958. It was a Luna E-1 spacecraft, the third of four to be launched, all of which were involved in launch failures. It was intended to impact the surface of the Moon, and in doing so become the first man-made object to reach its surface. The spacecraft was intended to release of sodium, in order to create a cloud of the metal which could be observed from Earth, allowing the spacecraft to be tracked. Prior"
"Luna E-6 No.5 Luna E-6 No.5, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1964B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1964. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the fifth of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6 No.5 was launched at 08:08:28 UTC on 20 April 1964, atop a Molniya-M 8K78M carrier rocket, flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The power system on the"
"LK (spacecraft) The LK (, from , ""Lunniy korabl"", meaning ""lunar craft""; GRAU index: 11F94) was a piloted lunar lander developed in the 1960s as a part of the Soviet attempts at human exploration of the Moon. Its role was analogous to the American Apollo lunar module (LM). Several LK articles were flown without crew in Earth orbit, but no LK ever reached the Moon. The development of the N1 launch vehicle required for the Moon flight suffered setbacks (including several launch failures), and the first Moon landings were achieved by US astronauts. As a result, both the N1 and"
"Lunokhod programme Lunokhod (, ""Moonwalker"") was a series of Soviet robotic lunar rovers designed to land on the Moon between 1969 and 1977. Lunokhod 1 was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on another world. The 1969 Lunokhod 1A (Lunokhod 0, Lunokhod No. 201) was destroyed during launch, the 1970 ""Lunokhod 1"" and the 1973 ""Lunokhod 2"" landed on the moon, and ""Lunokhod 3"" (Lunokhod No. 205, planned for 1977) was never launched. The successful missions were in operation concurrently with the Zond and Luna series of Moon flyby, orbiter and landing missions. The Lunokhods were primarily designed to"
"on 18 June 1959 atop a Luna 8K72 carrier rocket, flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The launch once again ended in failure when the booster suffered a failure of the yaw gyro and veered off its flight path. Ground control issued a manual shutoff command at T+153 seconds. The spacecraft was intended to conduct experiments during its flight towards the Moon. It would also have released gaseous sodium, in order to create a cloud of the metal which could be observed from Earth, allowing the spacecraft to be tracked. Prior to the release of information about its"
"Luna E-6 No.2 Luna E-6 No.2, also identified as No.1, and sometimes known in the West as Sputnik 25, was a Soviet spacecraft which launched in 1963, but was placed into a useless orbit due to a problem with the upper stage of the rocket that launched it. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the first of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6 No.2 was launched at 08:49 UTC on"
"Luna E-6 No.6 Luna E-6 No.6, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1964A, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1964. It was a Luna E-6 spacecraft, the fourth of twelve to be launched, It was intended to be the first spacecraft to perform a soft landing on the Moon, a goal which would eventually be accomplished by the final E-6 spacecraft, Luna 9. Luna E-6 No.6 was launched at 08:15:35 UTC on 21 March 1964, atop a Molniya-M 8K78M carrier rocket, flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. A connecting rod in the"
"6"" flew past the Moon late on 11 June, with a closest approach of . Contact was maintained to a distance of from Earth. Luna 6 Luna 6, or E-6 No.7 was an unmanned Soviet spacecraft which was intended to perform a landing on the Moon as part of the Luna program. Due to the failure of a mid-course correction manoeuvre, ""Luna 6"" failed to land, instead flying past the Moon at a distance of . ""Luna 6"" was launched by a Molniya-M carrier rocket flying from Site 1/5 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome. Liftoff occurred at 07:40 UTC on 8"
"Luna E-3 No.2 Luna E-3 No.2, sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1960B, was a Soviet spacecraft which was lost in a launch failure in 1960. It was a Luna E-3 spacecraft, the second of two to be launched, both of which were lost in launch failures. It was intended to fly around the moon on a circumlunar trajectory in order to image the surface of the Moon, including the far side. The E-3 spacecraft were similar in design to the E-2A which had been used for the earlier Luna 3 mission. However, they carried higher-resolution cameras, and were intended"
"Soyuz programme The Soyuz programme ( , ; , meaning ""Union"") is a human spaceflight programme that was initiated by the Soviet Union in the early 1960s, originally part of a Moon landing project intended to put a Soviet cosmonaut on the Moon. It was the third Soviet human spaceflight programme after the Vostok and Voskhod programme. The programme consists of the Soyuz spacecraft and the Soyuz rocket and is now the responsibility of the Russian Roscosmos. Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, all human spaceflights to and from the International Space Station have been carried out"
"Luna E-8-5 No. 402 Luna E-8-5 No.402, also known as Luna Ye-8-5 No.402, and sometimes identified by NASA as Luna 1969C, was a Soviet spacecraft under Luna programme which was lost in a launch failure in 1969. It was a Luna E-8-5 spacecraft, the first of at least eleven to be launched. It was intended to perform a soft landing on the Moon, collect a sample of lunar soil, and return it to the Earth. It was, along with Luna 15, one of two unsuccessful missions which had been launched by the Soviet Union in a last-ditch attempt to upstage"