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Mission record

Luna 9

Also known as Lunik 9, Luna9

U.S.S.R · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

The first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data from the Moon's surface to Earth, preceding the U.S. Surveyor 1 soft lander by about 4 months; it returned four panoramas from Oceanus Procellarum before its batteries ran out on 6 February 1966.

Destinations
Moon
Launch vehicle
Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape Stage
Launch site
Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R
Countries
Soviet Union
Mission types
Lander

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Luna 9 launched

    Earth

  2. Landing

    Luna 9 soft-landed in Oceanus Procellarum

    Moon

  3. Milestone

    Luna 9 took its first full panorama of the lunar surface

    Moon

  4. Mission end

    Luna 9 batteries ran out of power and the mission ended

    Moon

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Luna 9 · Spacecraft

    Destinations: Moon

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through August 24, 2026