Luna 3
Author(s): toutatis
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Luna 3 was a Soviet spacecraft that provided humanity's first photographs of the Far Side of the Moon. Launched in 1959-Oct-3, it then encountered the Moon at the distance of 6,300 km three days later. It then performed the first ever gravity assist maneuver whilst returning 29 images back to Earth. The probe then continued to operate until 1959-Oct-22, later predicted to reenter the Earth's atmosphere sometime in 1960
| Luna Program (1959-Present) |
||
|---|---|---|
| Mission | Start | End |
| Luna 3 | 1959-Oct-4 | 1959-Oct-22 |
| First spacecraft to view the Far Side of the Moon. Reentered 1960 | ||
| Luna 1960A (E-3-1) | 1960-Apr-15 | |
| Destroyed in a launch failure. Similar in design/objectives with Luna 3 | ||
| Luna 1960B (E-3-2) | 1960-Apr-16 | |
| Destroyed in a launch failure. Similar in design/objectives with Luna 3 | ||
First photograph of the far side of the Moon by Luna 3, 1959-Oct-6.
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