Luna 9 (Луна-9), internal designation Ye-6 No.13, was an uncrewed space mission of 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 ...

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 acc ...

. On 3 February 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing 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 imagery from its surface.

Spacecraft

The spacecraft and lander capsule, combined, weighed and was 2.7 meters tall. It commenced the main descent, and shortly before its controlled impact ejected the lander capsule. The lander had a mass of and consisted of a spheroid ''Automatic Lunar Station'' (ALS) capsule measuring . It used a landing bag to survive the impact speed of over . It was a hermetically sealed container with radio equipment, a program timing device, heat control systems, scientific apparatus, power sources, and a television system. The spacecraft was developed in the design bureau then known as

OKB-1 S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation "Energia" () is a Russian manufacturer of spacecraft and space station components. Its name is derived from the Russian word for energy and is also named for Sergei Korolev, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, th ...

, under Chief Designer

Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (14 January 1966) was the lead Soviet Aerospace engineering, rocket engineer and spacecraft designer during the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950s and 1960s. He invented the R-7 Sem ...

(who had died before the launch). The first 11 Luna missions were unsuccessful for a variety of reasons. At that time the project was transferred to Lavochkin design bureau since OKB-1 was busy with a human expedition to the Moon. ''Luna 9'' was the twelfth attempt at a soft-landing by the Soviet Union; it was also the first successful deep space probe built by the Lavochkin design bureau, which ultimately would design and build almost all Soviet (later

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

n) lunar and interplanetary spacecraft.

Launch and translunar coast

''Luna 9'' was launched by a Molniya-M rocket, serial number 103-32, flying from Site 31/6 at the

Baikonur Cosmodrome 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 Human spaceflight, crewed spaceflights are l ...

in the

Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic The Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Kazakhstan, the Kazakh SSR, KSSR, or simply Kazakhstan, was one of the transcontinental country, transcontinental Republics of the Soviet Union, constituent republics of the Soviet Un ...

. Liftoff took place at 11:41:37 GMT on 31 January 1966. The first three stages of the four-stage carrier rocket injected the payload and fourth stage into

low Earth orbit A low Earth orbit (LEO) is an geocentric orbit, orbit around Earth with a orbital period, period of 128 minutes or less (making at least 11.25 orbits per day) and an orbital eccentricity, eccentricity less than 0.25. Most of the artificial object ...

, at an altitude of and an

inclination Orbital inclination measures the tilt of an object's orbit around a celestial body. It is expressed as the angle between a reference plane and the orbital plane or axis of direction of the orbiting object. For a satellite orbiting the Eart ...

of 51.8°. The fourth stage, a Blok-L, then fired to raise the perigee of the orbit to a new apogee approximately , before deploying ''Luna 9'' into a highly elliptical

geocentric orbit A geocentric orbit, Earth-centered orbit, or Earth orbit involves any object orbiting Earth, such as the Moon or artificial satellites. In 1997, NASA estimated there were approximately 2,465 artificial satellite payloads orbiting Earth and 6,21 ...

. For thermal control, the spacecraft then spun itself up to 0.67 rpm using nitrogen jets. On 1 February at 19:29 GMT, a mid-course correction took place involving a 48-second burn and resulting in a

delta-v Delta-''v'' (also known as "change in velocity"), symbolized as and pronounced , as used in spacecraft flight dynamics, is a measure of the impulse per unit of spacecraft mass that is needed to perform a maneuver such as launching from or l ...

of .

Descent and landing

At an altitude of from the Moon, the spacecraft was oriented for the firing of its retrorockets and its spin was stopped in preparation for landing. From this moment the orientation of the spacecraft was supported by measurements of directions to the Sun and the Earth using an optomechanical system. At above the lunar surface, the radar altimeter triggered the jettison of the side modules, the inflation of the airbags and the firing of the retro rockets. At from the surface, the main retrorocket was turned off by the integrator of an acceleration having reached the planned velocity of the braking manoeuver. The four outrigger engines were used to slow the craft. About above the lunar surface, a contact sensor touched the ground triggering the engines to be shut down and the landing capsule to be ejected and its landing airbag being inflated. The capsule landed at . The capsule bounced several times before coming to rest in Oceanus Procellarum west of Reiner and Marius craters at approximately 7.08 N, 64.37 W (other sources indicate ) on 3 February 1966 at 18:45:30 GMT.

Surface operations

left, Luna 9 lander model The first photo ever taken from the surface of another celestial body. Approximately 250 seconds after landing in the Oceanus Procellarum, four petals that covered the top half of the spacecraft opened outward for increased stability. Seven hours after (to allow for the Sun to climb to 7° elevation) the probe began sending the first of nine images (including five panoramas) of the surface of the Moon. Seven radio sessions with a total of 8 hours and 5 minutes were transmitted, as well as a series of three TV pictures. After assembly the photographs gave a panoramic view of the immediate lunar surface, comprising views of nearby rocks and of the horizon, away. The pictures from ''Luna 9'' were not released immediately by the Soviet authorities, but scientists at

Jodrell Bank Observatory Jodrell Bank Observatory ( ) in Cheshire, England hosts a number of radio telescopes as part of the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics at the University of Manchester. The observatory was established in 1945 by Bernard Lovell, a radio as ...

in England, which was monitoring the craft, noticed that the signal format used was identical to the internationally agreed Radiofax system used by newspapers for transmitting pictures. The ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first ...

'' rushed a suitable receiver to the Observatory and the pictures from ''Luna 9'' were decoded and published worldwide. The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

speculated that the spacecraft's designers deliberately fitted the probe with equipment conforming to the standard, to enable reception of the pictures by Jodrell Bank Observatory. The radiation detector, the only dedicated scientific instrument on board, measured dosage of 30 millirads (0.3 milligrays) per day.NSSDCA ID: 1966-006A-02
/ref> The mission also determined that a spacecraft would not sink into the lunar dust; that the ground could support a lander. The last contact with the spacecraft was at 22:55 GMT on 6 February 1966.

Models and displays

Detailed Luna 9 models 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 ...

, Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics, Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology, Museum of Air and Space Paris and other locations. File:Luna-9 (Memorial Museum of Astronautics).JPG, Luna 9 mockup (1:1) at the

. File:FP2A3144 (23497692808).jpg, Luna-9 descent capsule at the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics. File:Luna 9 Space Probe.jpg, Luna 9 on display at the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics. File:Luna-9 Space Probe Descent Capsule.jpg, Luna-9 descent capsule at the Tsiolkovsky State Museum of the History of Cosmonautics. File:Onboard container of the Luna-9 automatic control system 1.jpg, Onboard container of the automatic control system "Luna-9", Museum of the History of Cosmonautics. File:Модель автоматической станции Луна-9 с посадочной ступенью 1.jpg, Luna 9 model at the Museum of Cosmonautics and Rocket Technology.

Stamps

The successful Luna 9 landing was commemorated on stamps. File:The Soviet Union 1966 CPA 3314 stamp (2851 Overprinted in Silver 'Luna 9 - on the Moon! 3.2. 1966').png, USSR stamp ''"Luna 9"–on the

! 3.2. 1966.'' File:The Soviet Union 1966 CPA 3315 stamp (Luna 9 Flight Scheme (Start 01.31, Soft Landing 02.03)).jpg, USSR stamp "Luna 9" Flight Scheme (Start 01.31, Soft Landing 02.03) File:The Soviet Union 1966 CPA 3316 stamp (Arms of USSR and Pennant Sent to Moon by Luna 9).png, USSR stamp Arms of USSR and Pennant Sent to Moon by "Luna 9". File:The Soviet Union 1966 CPA 3317 stamp (Luna 9 on Moon's Surface and 1st Television Program of Moon Pictures on February 4).jpg, USSR stamp "Luna 9" on

's Surface and 1st

Television Program A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via Terrestrial television, over-the-air, Satellite television, satellite, and cable te ...

Pictures on 4 February File:1966 CPA 3415.jpg, Stamp of the Soviet Union, 1966 File:Stamps of Germany (DDR) 1966, MiNr 1168.jpg, GDR stamp, 1966

External links

Soviet Lunar Images

Sources

External links

* /www.zarya.info/Diaries/Luna/Luna09.php Zarya – ''Luna 9'' chronology* /www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CRmqm4JjCo Animation of mission
''Luna 9'' panoramas
{{Orbital launches in 1966 Missions to the Moon Luna programme 1966 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft launched by Molniya-M rockets Soft landings on the Moon Spacecraft launched in 1966 1966 on the Moon

Spacecraft

Launch and translunar coast

Descent and landing

Surface operations

Models and displays

Stamps

See also

External links

Sources

External links