Luna programme facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Luna space programme

Locations of Luna landings on the Moon are marked in red; Apollo missions in green, and Surveyor in yellow.
Country	Soviet Union, Russia
Purpose	Uncrewed exploration of the Moon
Status	Operational
Program history
Duration	1958–present
First flight	Luna E-1 No.1 23 September 1958
Last flight	Luna 25 10 August 2023
Successes	15
Failures	29
Partial failures	0
Launch site(s)	Baikonur Cosmodrome
Vehicle information
Launch vehicle(s)	Luna 8K72 Molniya-L Molniya-M Proton-K/D-1

The Luna programme (which means "Moon" in Russian) is a series of robotic spacecraft missions. These missions were sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union and later Russia. They took place between 1959 and 2023.

Out of many missions, fifteen were successful. Each Luna spacecraft was designed to either orbit the Moon or land on it. These missions achieved many "firsts" in space exploration. They also did many experiments. They studied the Moon's chemical makeup, gravity, temperature, and radiation.

Twenty-four spacecraft were officially named Luna. However, more were launched. Missions that failed to reach orbit were not publicly announced back then. They were not given a Luna number. Those that failed in low Earth orbit were often called Cosmos missions.

Exploring the Moon: Mission Types

The name Luna was used for different spacecraft designs. Each design aimed to achieve a specific type of mission:

Impactors: Hitting the Moon

Luna 1 impactor

Impactor spacecraft were built to crash into the Moon's near side. Luna 1 (January 1959) missed the Moon. It became the first spacecraft to leave the Earth-Moon system. Luna 2 (September 1959) successfully hit the Moon's surface. This made it the first human-made object to reach the Moon. This was Luna's only successful impact out of six tries.

Flybys: Flying Past the Moon

A flyby is the simplest type of lunar spacecraft. It doesn't need special engines to slow down or a super-accurate guidance system to hit the Moon. Its main job is to send photos back to Earth. Luna 3 (October 1959) flew around the Moon later that year. It sent back the first pictures of the Moon's far side. This side can never be seen from Earth. This was Luna's only successful flyby mission.

Soft Landers: Gentle Touchdowns

Soft landers need rocket power to slow down. This prevents the spacecraft from crashing. They can keep sending pictures from the Moon's surface. They might also dig into the lunar soil or gather other information.

Luna program landers were generally called Ye-6 (or E-6). Two successful soft landings happened out of thirteen attempts.

Luna 9 became the first probe to make a soft landing on another planet (the Moon) in February 1966. It sent back five black and white panoramic images. These were the first close-up pictures of the lunar surface.

Orbiters: Circling the Moon

Orbiter spacecraft need less power than landers. But they still need enough to get into orbit around the Moon. Luna 10 (March 1966) became the first artificial satellite of the Moon. The Luna program had six successful orbiters out of eight attempts.

Rovers: Driving on the Moon

Model of Lunokhod vehicle

More advanced soft landers can release wheeled vehicles. These "rovers" can explore a wider area of the Moon's surface. The first attempt to launch a Lunokhod rover failed in February 1969. Luna 17 (November 1970) and Luna 21 (January 1973) carried Lunokhod vehicles. These were the first robotic wheeled vehicles to explore the Moon's surface.

Lunokhod 1 traveled about 10.5 kilometers (6.5 miles) in 322 days. It sent back over 20,000 TV images and 206 high-quality panoramas. Lunokhod 2 worked for about four months. It covered 42 kilometers (26 miles) of terrain. A third Lunokhod was built but never flew.

Sample Return: Bringing Moon Rocks Home

More complex soft lander craft can robotically pick up a small amount of lunar material. Then, they lift off from the surface and bring the material back to Earth. Luna 16 (September 1970), Luna 20 (February 1972), and Luna 24 (August 1976) all brought samples of lunar soil back to Earth. A total of 301 grams (10.6 ounces) of soil was returned from these three missions.

Luna 15 (July 1969) flew at the same time as the Apollo 11 mission. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had already landed on the Moon. Luna 15 then began its descent but crashed into a mountain.

Mission Success Rates: How Luna Compared

When the Luna program was active, the Soviet Union usually did not share details about missions that failed. Because of this, people in Western countries often gave their own names to these missions. For example, a failed mission from 1958, which NASA thought was part of the Luna program, was called Luna 1958A.

Here's a look at how Luna missions compared to similar US programs:

Luna Missions: A Closer Look

This table lists the different Luna missions, their types, and what happened during each one.

Public name	Internal name	Photo	Mission	Launch date	Carrier rocket	Outcome	Remarks
N/A	E-1 No.1		Impactor	23 September 1958	Luna	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
N/A	E-1 No.2		Impactor	11 October 1958	Luna	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
N/A	E-1 No.3		Impactor	4 December 1958	Luna	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
Luna 1	E-1 No.4		Impactor	2 January 1959	Luna	Launch failure	Also known as Mechta; flew past the Moon; first spacecraft to escape geocentric orbit
N/A	E-1A No.1		Impactor	18 June 1959	Luna	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
Luna 2	E-1A No.2		Impactor	12 September 1959	Luna	Successful	First human-made object to reach the Moon.
Luna 3	E-2A No.1		Flyby	4 October 1959	Luna	Successful	Took first photographs of the far side of the Moon.
N/A	E-3 No.1		Flyby	15 April 1960	Luna	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
N/A	E-3 No.2		Flyby	16 April 1960	Luna	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
N/A	E-6 No.2		Lander	4 January 1963	Molniya-L	Launch failure	Never left LEO
N/A	E-6 No.3		Lander	3 February 1963	Molniya-L	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
Luna 4	E-6 No.4		Lander	2 April 1963	Molniya-L	Spacecraft failure	Flew past the Moon
N/A	E-6 No.6		Lander	21 March 1964	Molniya-M	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
N/A	E-6 No.5		Lander	20 April 1964	Molniya-M	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
Kosmos 60	E-6 No.9		Lander	12 March 1965	Molniya-L	Launch failure	Never left LEO
N/A	E-6 No.8		Lander	10 April 1965	Molniya-L	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
Luna 5	E-6 No.10		Lander	9 May 1965	Molniya-M	Spacecraft failure	Crashed on the Moon
Luna 6	E-6 No.7		Lander	8 June 1965	Molniya-M	Spacecraft failure	Flew past the Moon
Luna 7	E-6 No.11		Lander	4 October 1965	Molniya	Spacecraft failure	Crashed on the Moon
Luna 8	E-6 No.12		Lander	3 December 1965	Molniya	Spacecraft failure	Crashed on the Moon
Luna 9	E-6 No.13		Lander	31 January 1966	Molniya-M	Successful	First soft landing on the Moon.
Kosmos 111	E-6S No.204		Orbiter	1 March 1966	Molniya-M	Launch failure	Never left LEO
Luna 10	E-6S No.206		Orbiter	31 March 1966	Molniya-M	Successful	First artificial satellite of the Moon.
Luna 11	E-6LF No.101		Orbiter	24 August 1966	Molniya-M	Successful
Luna 12	E-6LF No.102		Orbiter	22 October 1966	Molniya-M	Successful
Luna 13	E-6M No.205		Lander	21 December 1966	Molniya-M	Successful	Landed on the Moon.
N/A	E-6LS No.112		Orbiter	7 February 1968	Molniya-M	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
Luna 14	E-6LS No.113		Orbiter	7 April 1968	Molniya-M	Successful
N/A	E-8 No.201		Rover	19 February 1969	Proton-K/D	Launch failure	First attempt to launch Lunokhod.
N/A	E-8-5 No.402		Sample return	14 June 1969	Proton-K/D	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
Luna 15	E-8-5 No.401		Sample return	13 July 1969	Proton-K/D	Spacecraft failure	Crashed on the Moon while Apollo 11 was on the surface.
Kosmos 300	E-8-5 No.403		Sample return	23 September 1969	Proton-K/D	Launch failure	Never left LEO
Kosmos 305	E-8-5 No.404		Sample return	22 October 1969	Proton-K/D	Launch failure	Never left LEO
N/A	E-8-5 No.405		Sample return	6 February 1970	Proton-K/D	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
Luna 16	E-8-5 No.406		Sample return	12 September 1970	Proton-K/D	Successful	First robotic sample return from the Moon.
Luna 17	E-8 No.203		Rover	10 November 1970	Proton-K/D	Successful	Deployed Lunokhod 1, the first robotic wheeled vehicle on the Moon.
Luna 18	E-8-5 No.407		Sample return	2 September 1971	Proton-K/D	Spacecraft failure	Crashed on the Moon.
Luna 19	E-8LS No.202		Orbiter	28 September 1971	Proton-K/D	Successful
Luna 20	E-8-5 No.408		Sample return	14 February 1972	Proton-K/D	Successful	Returned a sample to Earth.
Luna 21	E-8 No.204		Rover	8 January 1973	Proton-K/D	Successful	Deployed Lunokhod 2.
Luna 22	E-8LS No.206		Orbiter	29 May 1974	Proton-K/D	Successful
Luna 23	E-8-5M No.410		Sample return	28 October 1974	Proton-K/D	Spacecraft failure	Landed but fell over.
N/A	E-8-5M No.412		Sample return	16 October 1975	Proton-K/D	Launch failure	Failed to orbit
Luna 24	E-8-5M No.413		Sample return	9 August 1976	Proton-K/D	Successful	Returned a sample to Earth.
Luna 25	E-8-5M No.414		Lander	10 August 2023	Soyuz 2.1b	En route

See also

In Spanish: Programa Luna para niños

• Luna (rocket)
• Luna-Glob
• Soviet crewed lunar programs
• Soviet space program
• Surveyor program
• Pioneer program
• Ranger program