1970-09-12 · 56 years ago

Luna-16 — launch

Date in UTC

Luna 16 was an uncrewed 1970 space mission, part of the Soviet Luna program. It was the first robotic probe to land on the Moon and return a sample of lunar soil 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 and was the third lunar sample return mission overall. 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.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_16. Related NASA reference: https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/chronology.html#1970. Description adapted from Wikipedia contributors (CC BY-SA 4.0; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).

Category
Launches and Flight Tests
Type
Orbital launch
Subjects
Space transportation
Mission
Luna 16
Organization
Strategic Rocket Forces
Vehicle
Proton-K/D
Location
NIIP-5, Baykonur, Kazakstan
Country
SU
Outcome
Successful

Context and qualifications

Launch code: DS. Source references: NK9810-25; Petrov71.

Sources and attribution

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