Detail View: NASA Solarsystem Collection: Luna 9
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title:
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Luna 9
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description:
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The Luna 9 spacecraft was the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data to Earth. The automatic lunar station that achieved the soft landing weighed 99 Kg. It was a hermetically sealed container with radio equipment, a program timing device, heat control systems, scientific apparatus, power sources, and a television system. The Luna 9 payload was carried to Earth orbit by an A-2-E vehicle and then conveyed toward the Moon by a fourth stage rocket that separated itself from the payload. Flight apparatus separated from the payload shortly before Luna 9 landed. After landing in the Ocean of Storms on February 3, 1966, the four petals, which formed the spacecraft, opened outward and stabilized the spacecraft on the lunar surface. Spring-controlled antennas assumed operating positions, and the television camera rotatable mirror system, which operated by revolving and tilting, began a photographic survey of the lunar environment. Seven radio sessions, totaling 8 hours and 5 minutes, were transmitted as were three series of TV pictures. When assembled, the photographs provided a panoramic view of the nearby lunar surface. The pictures included views of nearby rocks and of the horizon 1.4 Km away from the spacecraft. *Image Credit*: NASA
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date:
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01.31.1966
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keywords:
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JPL
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facet_what:
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Earth
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facet_where:
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Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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facet_when:
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01-31-1966
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facet_when_year:
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1966
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UID:
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SPD-SLRSY-1907
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original url:
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http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1907
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