Luna 9 |
|
Operator | Soviet Union |
---|---|
Major contractors | GSMZ Lavochkin |
Mission type | Lunar survey |
Launch date | 31 January 1966 11:45:00 UTC |
Carrier rocket | Molniya 8K78M (4-Stage R-7/SS-6) |
Launch site | Baikonur Cosmodrome |
Mission duration | 6 days, last transmission 6 February 1966 22:55 UTC |
Mission highlight | Lunar impact |
COSPAR ID | 1966-006A |
Mass | 1,580 kg (3,500 lb) |
Moon landing | |
Date | 3 February 1966 18:44:52 UTC |
Coordinates | 7.13°N 64.37°W |
Instruments | |
Imaging system Radiation detector |
Luna 9 (E-6 series) (internal name E-6 N. 13) was an unmanned space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna program. On February 3, 1966 the Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a soft landing on the moon, and hence any planetary body other than Earth, and to transmit photographic data to Earth.
The automatic lunar station that achieved the survivable landing weighed 99 kg. It used a landing bag and survived the impact at 15 meters/second (54 km/h). 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 Luna 9 payload was carried to Earth orbit by an A-2-E vehicle and
then conveyed toward the Moon
by a fourth stage rocket that separated itself from the payload. The
flight apparatus separated from the payload shortly before Luna 9
landed.
After landing in the Oceanus Procellarum
on February 3, the four petals, which covered the top half of the
spacecraft, opened outward and stabilized the spacecraft on the lunar
surface. Spring-controlled antennas assumed operating positions, and the
television camera rotating mirror system, which operated by revolving
and tilting, began a photographic survey of the lunar environment. Seven
radio sessions, totaling 8 hours and 5 minutes, were transmitted as
were three series of TV pictures.
When assembled, the photographs provided a panoramic view of the
nearby lunar surface. The pictures included views of nearby rocks and of
the horizon 1.4 km away from the spacecraft.
For unknown reasons, the pictures from Luna 9 were not released immediately by the Soviet authorities. Instead, the Jodrell Bank Observatory,
which was monitoring the craft, noticed that the signal format used was
identical to the internationally-agreed system used by newspapers for
transmitting pictures. The Daily Express
rushed a suitable receiver to the Observatory and the pictures from
Luna 9 were decoded and published worldwide. The BBC reports speculated
that the spacecraft's designers deliberately fitted the probe with
equipment that conformed to the standard, specifically to enable
reception of the pictures by Jodrell Bank.
With this mission, the Soviets accomplished another spectacular first in the space race,
the first survivable landing of a man-made object on another celestial
body. Luna 9 was the twelfth attempt at a soft-landing by the Soviets;
it was also the first deep space probe built by the Lavochkin
design bureau, which ultimately would design and build almost all
Soviet (and Russian) lunar and interplanetary spacecraft. All operations
prior to landing occurred without fault, and the 58 centimeter spheroid
ALS capsule landed on the Moon at 18:45:30 UT on February 3, 1966 west
of the craters Reiner and Marius
in the Ocean of Storms (at 7°8' north latitude and 64°22' west
longitude). Approximately five minutes after touchdown, Luna 9 began
transmitting data to Earth, but it was seven hours (after the Sun
climbed to 7° elevation) before the probe began sending the first of
nine images (including five panoramas) of the surface of the Moon. These
were the first images sent from the surface of another planetary body.
The radiation detector, the only scientific instrument on board, measured a dosage of 30 millirads (0.3 milligrays) per day. Perhaps the most important discovery of the mission was determining that a foreign object would not simply sink into the lunar dust, that is, that the ground could support a heavy lander. Last contact with the spacecraft was at 22:55 UT on February 6, 1966.
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