Luna 16: first robotic sample return from another world
Luna 16: primera recogida robótica de muestras de otro mundo
- Date
- 12-24 de septiembre de 1970 · confidence high
- Place
- Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
- Credited to
- Lavochkin (Georgy Babakin)
- Field
- Movement
What was discovered
The craft drilled 35 cm into Mare Fecunditatis, collected about 101 g of regolith and returned it to Earth in a capsule. It was the first time a machine brought back material from another body without human help.
Having lost the crewed lunar race, the USSR sought a cheap robotic way to bring back samples after Apollo.
What it led to
- Luna 20 (1972) and Luna 24 (1976, 2 m core)
- comparison of Soviet and Apollo samples
- design of later robotic returns (Chang'e 5, Hayabusa)