Questions tagged [luna]
The Luna programme was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976.
14
questions
7
votes
2
answers
535
views
Why did Luna 1 enter a heliocentric orbit?
The way I understood it (please correct me if I'm wrong), the easiest (least energy) way to reach the Moon it to put the spacecraft into a highly elliptic geocentric orbit whose apogee reaches the ...
- 192
3
votes
1
answer
139
views
Why did Luna 16 go to the Moon at night? (Extreme cold vs robotic sampling & launch back to Earth)
While landing on the Sun at night has obvious advantages1 I'm curious why Luna 16 landed on the Moon at night. It was a complex mission involving robotic sample retrieval and a sample return launch ...
- 149k
4
votes
1
answer
236
views
Lunar sample return cost per kg - Apollo vs Luna vs Chang'e
Lunar samples (rocks, soil etc.) were returned by US Apollo program, Russian Luna and Chinese Chang'e. How does the cost per kg of the samples compare among these missions? Who got it the cheapest per ...
- 1,403
7
votes
1
answer
147
views
Soviet Luna 16 Spacecraft
Is the Soviet spacecraft Luna 16 still working and transmitting temperature & radiation levels? Attempts to Google the results of Luna 16 have failed, possibly because the results are in Russian.
- 173
2
votes
1
answer
228
views
What did Luna 3's illuminator illuminate and why did it need a cover?
This comment below this answer to How was it possible for the Apollo 11 to film and take pictures with such radiation? links to the svengrahn.pp.se post Luna 3 - the first view of the moon's far side.
...
- 149k
1
vote
1
answer
126
views
How did Luna 3's pivoting antennas and ribbon antennas work?
This comment below this answer to How was it possible for the Apollo 11 to film and take pictures with such radiation? links to the svengrahn.pp.se post Luna 3 - the first view of the moon's far side.
...
- 149k
24
votes
1
answer
3k
views
Was US film used in Luna 3?
This site claims that the USSR's Luna 3 probe, the first to photograph the far side of the moon, used special radiation and temperature hardened film taken from downed US spy balloons.
Is this true? ...
- 1,663
5
votes
2
answers
269
views
Where in space did Luna 2 release its sodium?
Wikipedia's Luna 2 says:
...the spacecraft released a sodium gas cloud so the spacecraft's movement could be visually observed.
NASA's NSSDCA/COSPAR ID: 1959-014A says:
On 13 September the ...
- 149k
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
How did the Luna spacecraft collect samples of the moon and containerize them for return to Earth?
The Wikipedia page Sample-return mission and this answer list Luna 16, 20 and 24 missions as each bringing back of the order of 100 grams of lunar material to Earth, but their Wikipedia pages don't ...
- 149k
2
votes
0
answers
45
views
Trajectory information for Ranger, Luna, and other early Lunar explorers
Is there a location where I can get remotely reliable information on the trajectories for the old Ranger, Luna, and other lunar explorers? I'm especially interested in the ones that flew by the Moon ...
- 121k
51
votes
1
answer
14k
views
How did the Russians get moon rocks?
I've read somewhere that the Russians have moon rocks. How did they get them?
- 1,341
19
votes
5
answers
5k
views
Would Luna 15 have been visible to any of the members of the Apollo 11 crew?
According to Wikipedia, Luna 15 crashed a few hours before Eagle lifted off from the moon, and since it crashed North-east of the landing site, it must have overflown them. Would any of the crew have ...
- 406
23
votes
1
answer
4k
views
Were the Apollo 11 astronauts aware of any parts of the Luna 15 mission?
I just learned today about the Luna 15 mission which was a Soviet attempt to land an unmanned probe on the moon which coincided with the successful Apollo 11 mission.
Were the Apollo 11 astronauts ...
- 2,720
34
votes
1
answer
5k
views
Why were early Soviet spacecraft spherical?
Sputnik's ball shape is instantly recognizable to most of us:
I was looking at the Wikipedia page for Luna 1, and saw it was also a ball-shaped spacecraft:
Why do these spacecraft have a spherical ...
- 2,720