Luna program

The Luna program was a series of Soviet and Russian robotic missions to the Moon, including impactors, orbiters, landers, and sample-return spacecraft.

Luna 2: A Soviet spacecraft that became the first human-made object to reach the Moon when it impacted in 1959. Its impact marked the program’s first lunar success and the first human-made arrival at another celestial body.
Lunar impactor: A spacecraft designed to strike the Moon, often to study the impact or deliver a target marker. Early Luna missions used impact trajectories to reach the surface before soft landings were possible.
Soviet space program: The state-directed spaceflight effort of the Soviet Union, active from the early space age until its dissolution. Luna was the Soviet Union’s principal series of robotic lunar missions.
Lunar geology: The study of the Moon’s materials, surface features, structure, and geological history. Returned samples and in-situ measurements provided direct evidence about lunar materials.
Apollo program: The United States human spaceflight program that landed astronauts on the Moon between 1969 and 1972. Apollo used crewed landings, while Luna pursued lunar exploration with robotic spacecraft.
Luna 9: A Soviet spacecraft that made the first successful soft landing on the Moon in 1966. Its images from the lunar surface established that a lander could survive touchdown.
Lunar lander: A spacecraft designed to descend to and operate on the surface of the Moon. Luna landers added controlled touchdown and surface experiments to the program’s capabilities.
Sergei Korolev: A Soviet rocket engineer who led the development of the country’s early space launch vehicles and spacecraft. Korolev’s design organization initiated the early Luna missions.
Lunar far side: The hemisphere of the Moon that always faces away from Earth because of synchronous rotation. Luna 3’s photographs first revealed this previously unseen hemisphere.
Surveyor program: A NASA series of robotic lunar landers that tested landing techniques and surveyed the surface from 1966 to 1968. Surveyor was the American counterpart to Luna’s early soft-landing missions.

Linked from 6 pages