Luna 9: first soft landing on the Moon
Luna 9: primer alunizaje suave
- Date
- 3 de febrero de 1966 · confidence high
- Place
- Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
- Credited to
- OKB-1 (Korolev) and Lavochkin (Georgy Babakin)
- Field
- Movement
What was discovered
Luna 9 cushioned its fall with an airbag and settled in the Oceanus Procellarum, sending panoramas of the surface. It proved that the regolith would bear a spacecraft's weight rather than swallow it in dust.
Launched on 31 January 1966. Britain's Jodrell Bank intercepted its images and published them before the USSR did.
What it led to
- confirmation that crewed landings were feasible
- the US Surveyor programme (Surveyor 1, June 1966)
- panoramic cameras on planetary landers
Built on
Made possible
- Apollo 8: first crewed lunar orbit21-27 de diciembre de 1968
- Crewed Moon landing: Saturn V, Lunar Module and A7L suit1969
- Luna 16: first robotic sample return from another world12-24 de septiembre de 1970
- Lunokhod 1: first robotic rover on the Moon17 de noviembre de 1970
- Mars 3: first soft landing on Mars2 de diciembre de 1971
- Beresheet: first privately funded lunar mission11 de abril de 2019
- SLIM: pinpoint landing on the Moon (Japan)19 de enero de 2024