''Luna 16'' was an uncrewed 1970 space mission, part of the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Luna program The Luna programme (from the Russian word " 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 accompli ...

. It was the first

robot A robot is a machine—especially one Computer program, programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions Automation, automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the robot control, co ...

ic probe to land on the

Moon The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...

and return a sample of

lunar soil Lunar regolith is the unconsolidated material found on the selenography, surface of the Moon and in the Lunar atmosphere, Moon's tenuous atmosphere. Sometimes referred to as Lunar soil, Lunar soil specifically refers to the component of regoli ...

to Earth. The 101 grams (3.56 ounces) sample was returned from Mare Fecunditatis. It represented the first successful lunar sample return mission by the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

and was the third lunar

sample return mission A sample-return mission is a spacecraft mission to collect and return samples from an extraterrestrial location to Earth for analysis. Sample-return missions may bring back merely atoms and molecules or a deposit of complex compounds such as lo ...

overall.

Overview

The spacecraft consisted of two attached stages, an ascent stage mounted on top of a descent stage. The descent stage was a cylindrical body with four protruding landing legs, fuel tanks, a landing radar, and a dual descent-engine complex. A main descent engine was used to slow the craft until it reached a cutoff point, which was determined by the on-board computer based on altitude and velocity. After cutoff a bank of lower-thrust jets was used for the final landing. The descent stage also acted as a launch pad for the ascent stage. The ascent stage was a smaller cylinder with a rounded top. It carried a cylindrical hermetically sealed soil-sample container inside a re-entry capsule. The spacecraft descent stage was equipped with a television camera, radiation and temperature monitors, telecommunications equipment, and an extendable arm with a drilling rig for the collection of a lunar soil sample.

Mission summary

The ''Luna 16'' automated station was launched toward the Moon from a preliminary Earth orbit and after one mid-course correction on 13 September it entered a circular 111 km with 70° inclination lunar orbit on 17 September 1970. The lunar gravity was studied from this orbit. After two orbital adjustments were performed on 18 and 19 September the

perilune An apsis (; ) is the farthest or nearest point in the orbit of a planetary body about its primary body. The line of apsides (also called apse line, or major axis of the orbit) is the line connecting the two extreme values. Apsides pert ...

was decreased to 15.1 km, as well as the inclination altered in preparation for landing. At perilune at 05:12

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

on 20 September, the main braking engine was fired, initiating the descent to the lunar surface. Six minutes later, at 05:18 UT, the spacecraft safely soft-landed in its target area at 0°41' south latitude and 56°18' east longitude, in the northeast area of Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fertility) approximately 100 kilometers west of

Webb crater Webb may refer to: Places Antarctica *Webb Glacier (South Georgia) *Webb Glacier (Victoria Land) *Webb Névé, Victoria Land, the névé at the head of Seafarer Glacier *Webb Nunataks, a group of nunataks in the Neptune Range *Webb Peak (disambi ...

and 150 km north of Langrenus crater. This was the first landing made in lunar night, as the Sun had set about 60 hours earlier. The main descent engine cut off at an altitude of 20 m, and the landing jets cut off at 2 m height at a velocity less than 2.4 m/s, followed by vertical free fall. The mass of the spacecraft at landing was 1,880 kilograms. Less than an hour after landing, at 06:03 UT, an automatic drill penetrated the lunar surface to collect a soil sample. After drilling for seven minutes, the drill reached a stop at 35 centimeters depth and then withdrew its sample and lifted it in an arc to the top of the spacecraft, depositing the lunar material in a small spherical capsule mounted on the main spacecraft bus. The column of

regolith Regolith () is a blanket of unconsolidated, loose, heterogeneous superficial deposits covering solid rock. It includes dust, broken rocks, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, Mars, some asteroids, and other terrestria ...

in the drill tube was then transferred to the soil sample container. After 26 hours and 25 minutes on the lunar surface, at 07:43 UT on 21 September, the spacecraft's upper stage lifted off from the Moon. The lower stage of ''Luna 16'' remained on the lunar surface and continued transmission of lunar temperature and radiation data. Three days later, on 24 September, after a direct ascent traverse with no mid-course corrections, the capsule, with its 101 grams of lunar soil, reentered Earth's atmosphere at a velocity of 11 kilometers per second. The capsule parachuted down 80 kilometers southeast of the town of

Jezkazgan Zhezkazgan, or Jezkazgan ( ) is a city and the administrative centre of Ulytau Region, Kazakhstan. Population: Its urban area includes the neighbouring mining town of Satbayev (city), Satpayev, for a total city population of 148,700. 55% of ...

Kazakhstan Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...

at 05:25 UT on 24 September 1970. Analysis of the dark basalt material indicated a close resemblance to soil recovered by the American

Apollo 12 Apollo 12 (November 14–24, 1969) was the sixth crewed flight in the United States Apollo program and the second to land on the Moon. It was launched on November 14, 1969, by NASA from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Commander Charles ...

mission. According to the Bochum Observatory in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

, strong and good-quality television pictures were returned by the spacecraft. ''Luna 16'' was a landmark success for the Soviets in their deep-space exploration program; the mission accomplished the first fully automatic recovery of soil samples from the surface of an extraterrestrial body. A 0.4825 g sample of material from a depth of 27 cm was sent to Britain.

Legacy

Three tiny samples (0.2 grams) of the ''Luna 16'' soil were sold at

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

auction for $442,500 in 1993. The samples were resold by Sotheby's for

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

855,000 on 29 November 2018. A series of 10-

kopeck The kopeck or kopek is or was a coin or a currency unit of a number of countries in Eastern Europe closely associated with the economy of Russia. It is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system; 100 kopeks are worth 1 ruble o ...

stamps was issued in 1970 to commemorate the flight of ''Luna 16'' lunar probe and depicted the main stages of the programme: soft landing on Moon, launch of the lunar soil sample return capsule, and parachute assisted landing back on Earth. File:The Soviet Union 1970 CPA 3951 stamp (Luna 16 in Flight (1970.09.12)).jpg File:The Soviet Union 1970 CPA 3952 stamp (Luna 16 Leaving Moon (1970.09.20)).jpg File:The Soviet Union 1970 CPA 3953 stamp (Capsule with Moon Rock Landing on Earth (1970.09.24)).jpg Replicas of Luna 16 are on display at the

Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics The Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (), also known as the Memorial Museum of Astronautics or Memorial Museum of Space Exploration, is a museum in Moscow, Russia, dedicated to space exploration. It is located within the base of the Monument to the ...

and Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics. File:Laika ac Memorial Museum of Astronautics (6995717351).jpg, Luna 16 at the

File:"Луна-16".jpg, Luna 16 at the

File:Kaluga Wikiexpedition (2016-06-11) 0465.jpg, Luna 16 at the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics File:Kaluga Wikiexpedition (2016-06-11) 0162.jpg, Luna 16 at the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics

References

External links

Lunar Orbiter 4 Lunar Orbiter 4 was a robotic U.S. spacecraft, part of the Lunar Orbiter program, Lunar Orbiter Program, designed to orbit the Moon, after the three previous orbiters had completed the required needs for Project Apollo, Apollo mapping and site s ...

image showing th
landing site of ''Luna 16''
in Mare Fecunditatis.
Zarya – ''Luna 16'' chronology

NASA NSSDC Master Catalog
{{Orbital launches in 1970 Luna programme Sample return missions Missions to the Moon Soft landings on the Moon 1970 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft launched in 1970 1970 on the Moon Successful space missions

Overview

Mission summary

Legacy

See also

References

External links