Lunokhod
Lunokhod ( rus, Луноход, p=lʊnɐˈxot, "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 an extraterrestrial body. 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 support the Soviet human Moon missions during the Moon race. Instead, they were used as remote-controlled robots for exploration of the lunar surface and returning pictures, after the Apollo human lunar landings and cancellation of the Soviet human Moon programme. The Lunokhods were transported to the lunar surface by Luna spa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lunokhod 1
''Lunokhod 1'' (Russian language, Russian: Луноход-1 "Moonwalker 1"), also known as Аппарат 8ЕЛ № 203 ("Device 8EL No. 203") was the first rover (space exploration), robotic rover lunar rover, on the Moon and the first to freely move across the surface of an astronomical object beyond the Earth. Sent by the Soviet Union it was part of the robotic rovers Lunokhod program. The ''Luna 17'' spacecraft carried ''Lunokhod 1'' to the Moon in 1970. Lunokhod programme#Lunokhod 201, Lunokhod 0 (No.201), the previous and first attempt to land a rover, launched in February 1969 but failed to reach Earth orbit. Although only designed for a lifetime of three lunar days (approximately three Earth months), ''Lunokhod 1'' operated on the lunar surface for eleven lunar days (321 Earth days) and traversed a total distance of 10.54 km. Rover description ''Lunokhod 1'' was a lunar vehicle formed of a tub-like compartment with a large convex lid on eight independently powered w ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lunokhod 2
''Lunokhod 2'' ( ("Moonwalker 2"), also known as Аппарат 8ЕЛ № 204 ("Device 8EL No. 204")) was the second of two uncrewed space mission, uncrewed lunar rover (space exploration), rovers that landed on the Moon by the Soviet Union as part of the Lunokhod programme. The ''Luna 21'' spacecraft landed on the Moon and deployed the second Soviet lunar rover, ''Lunokhod 2'', in January 1973.Lunokhod 02 , NASA Solar System Exploration; page updated March 15, 2018. Retrieved May 31, 2018. The lander and rover together massed 1814 kg. The primary objectives of the mission were to collect images of the lunar surface, examine Available light, ambient light levels to determine the feasibility of astronomical observations from the Moon, perform laser ranging experiments from Earth, observe solar X-rays, measure loc ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lunar Rover
A lunar rover or Moon rover is a space exploration Rover (space exploration), vehicle designed to move across the surface of the Moon. The Apollo program's Lunar Roving Vehicle was driven on the Moon by members of three American crews, Apollo 15, Apollo 16, 16, and Apollo 17, 17. Other rovers have been partially or fully autonomous robots, such as the Soviet Union's Lunokhods, Chinese ''Yutu (rover), Yutus'', Indian ''Pragyan (Chandrayaan-3), Pragyan'', and Japan's Smart Lander for Investigating Moon#Rovers, LEVs. Five countries have had operating rovers on the Moon: the Soviet Union, the United States, China, India, and Japan. Variations in design Lunar rover designs have varied in several ways. Size and speed Lunokhod rovers were in length. The LRVs were long with a wheelbase, and achieved a top speed of during Apollo 17. Power The Lunokhod rovers, and others, used photovoltaic solar power. The LRV rovers were battery powered. Lunokhod and the Chinese ''Yutu'' rovers ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Luna Programme
The Luna programme (from the Russian word "Moon, Luna" meaning "Moon"), occasionally called ''Lunik'' by western media, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. The programme accomplished many Timeline of space exploration, firsts in space exploration, including Luna 1, first flyby of the Moon, Luna 2, first impact of the Moon and Luna 3, first photos of the far side of the Moon. Each mission was designed as either an orbiter or Lander (spacecraft), lander. 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 not assigned a Luna number. Those that failed in low Earth orbit were usually given Kosmos (satellite), Cosmos designations. The estimated cost of the Luna programme in 196 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Alexander Kemurdzhian
Aleksandr Leonovich Kemurdzhian (; 4 October 192125 February 2003) was a Soviet mechanical engineer who worked at the VNIITransmash institute for most of the second half of the 20th century. He is best known for designing the metal chases for ''Lunokhod 1''—the first ever planetary rover for space exploration in the Soviet space program. Early life Kemurdzhian was born to Armenian parents on 4 October 1921 in Vladikavkaz, today the capital of North Ossetia. His father (b. 1898) and mother (b. 1901) were volunteers in the Russian Civil War with the 11th Red Army who happened to be in Vladikavkaz at the time of his birth. His paternal grandparents were from Trebizond who settled in Batumi in the late 19th century, while his mother was from Rostov-on-Don. He was raised in Baku, which he considered his hometown. In 1940 he enrolled at the Bauman Higher Technical College in Moscow. With the start of the Eastern Front of World War II in 1941, he and other students of the tank ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Moon Landing
A Moon landing or lunar landing is the arrival of a spacecraft on the surface of the Moon, including both crewed and robotic missions. The first human-made object to touch the Moon was Luna 2 in 1959. In 1969 Apollo 11 was the first crewed mission to land on the Moon. There were List of Apollo missions#Crewed missions, six crewed landings between 1969 and 1972, and numerous uncrewed landings. All crewed missions to the Moon were conducted by the Apollo program, with the last departing the lunar surface in December 1972. After Luna 24 in 1976 there were no Soft landing (aeronautics), soft landings on the Moon until Chang'e 3 in 2013. All soft landings took place on the near side of the Moon until January 2019, when Chang'e 4 made the first landing on the far side of the Moon. Uncrewed landings Government landings Six government space agencies, Interkosmos, NASA, China National Space Administration, CNSA, Department of Space, DOS, JAXA and European Space Agency, ESA, ha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Soviet Crewed Lunar Programs
The Soviet crewed lunar programs were a series of programs pursued by the Soviet Union to Moon landing, land humans on the Moon, Space Race, in competition with the United States Apollo program. 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 (spacecraft), LK spacecraft launched with the N1 (rocket), N1 rocket. Following the dual American successes of the first crewed lunar orbit on 24–25 December 1968 (Apollo 8) and the first Moon landing on July 20, 1969 (Apollo 11), and a series of catastrophic N1 failures, both Soviet programs were eventually brought to an end. The Proton-based Zond program was canceled in 1970, and the N1-L3 program was ''de facto'' terminated in 1974 and officially canceled in 1976. Details of both Soviet programs were kept secret ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Soviet Space Program
The Soviet space program () was the state space program of the Soviet Union, active from 1951 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. Contrary to its competitors (NASA in the United States, the European Space Agency in Western Europe, and the Ministry of Aerospace Industry in China), which had their programs run under single coordinating agencies, the Soviet space program was divided between several internally competing OKB, design bureaus led by Sergei Korolev, Korolev, Kerim Kerimov, Kerimov, Mstislav Keldysh, Keldysh, Mikhail Yangel, Yangel, Valentin Glushko, Glushko, Vladimir Chelomey, Chelomey, Viktor Makeyev, Makeyev, Boris Chertok, Chertok and Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev, Reshetnev. Several of these bureaus were subordinated to the Ministry of General Machine-Building. The Soviet space program served as an important marker of claims by the Soviet Union to its superpower status. Soviet rocketry, Soviet investigations into rocketry began with the fo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Lavochkin
NPO Lavochkin (, OKB-301, also called Lavochkin Research and Production Association or shortly Lavochkin Association, LA) is a Russian aerospace company. It is a major player in the Russian space program, being the developer and manufacturer of the Fregat upper stage, as well as interplanetary probes such as Fobos-Grunt. As of 2015, it was headed by Sergei Lemeshevskii. On 10 August 2017 the Lavochkin Association's Board of Directors appointed Vladimir Kolmykov Director General of the enterprise. Overview The company develops and manufactures spacecraft such as the Fregat rocket upper stages, satellites and interplanetary probes. It is a contractor for a number of military programs, such as the Oko early warning satellite, Prognoz and Araks programmes as well as the civilian program Kupon. One of the company's most notable projects was the participation in the failed Fobos-Grunt sample return mission. NPO Lavochkin has also developed the Elektro–L series of new-generation ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Georgy Babakin
Georgy Nikolayevich Babakin (; 13 November 1914 – 3 August 1971) was a Soviet engineer working in the space program. He was Chief Designer at the Lavochkin Design Bureau from 1965 until his death. Babakin's early career was spent in radio engineering, starting with a job at the Moscow telephone company in 1930, working on an urban radio network. From 1943 to 1949, Babakin worked on radar targeting systems at the Institute of Automation (VSNITO), where he became its chief engineer. Babakin became involved in the Soviet space program in 1949, working in Boris Chertok's division of NII-88 on surface-to-air missiles and targeting systems. In 1952, he was part of a group transferred to Lavochkin's bureau OKB-301 to work on the intercontinental cruise missile Burya and the V-300 anti-aircraft missile. In 1960, Semyon Lavochkin died at an aircraft show (literally died in Babakin's arms), and the bureau was subsumed by Vladimir Chelomei. It became independent again in 1965, with ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Moon Race
The Space Race (, ) was a 20th-century competition between the Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations following World War II and the onset of the Cold War. The technological advantage demonstrated by spaceflight achievement was seen as necessary for national security, particularly in regard to intercontinental ballistic missile and Reconnaissance satellite, satellite reconnaissance capability, but also became part of the cultural symbolism and ideology of the time. The Space Race brought pioneering launches of artificial satellites, robotic landers to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and ultimately to the Moon. Public interest in space travel originated in the 1951 publication of a Soviet youth magazine and was promptly picked up by US magazines. The competition began on July 30, 1955, when ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Zvezda (moonbase)
Zvezda moonbase (, ''"star"''), also called DLB Lunar Base, was a Soviet Union, Soviet plan and project from 1962 to 1974 to construct a crewed moonbase as successor to the Soviet crewed lunar programs, N1-L3 human lunar expedition program. Zvezda moonbase was canceled with the rest of the Soviet human lunar programs. Implementation The base's main habitation module would first be delivered to the Moon. Later automatic spacecraft, including the Lunokhod rover, would be delivered, followed by a human crew and more modules. For the safety of the crew, the habitation modules might have been covered with regolith. In order to allow for exploration or repositioning of the base, the habitation modules may have been installed on wheel chassis, and multiple docked to form a movable train. Energy for the base would have been provided by atomic battery, atomic batteries and a nuclear reactor. The moonbase project was ordered by the Soviet space chief Sergei Korolev, Korolyov to Vladimir B ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |