Luna 10
Luna 10 — the first spacecraft to orbit the Moon, and the first human-made object to orbit any body beyond Earth (in lunar orbit 3 April 1966). For 56 days and 460 orbits it measured a weak to absent magnetic field, radiation, micrometeoroids and an uneven gravity field; its gamma-ray spectrometer showed a surface resembling basalt.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- Lavochkin (USSR)
- Launched
- March 31, 1966
- Status
- Completed
Trajectory
- Distance from the Sun
- 0.997 AU
- Computed from the cached position
- Distance from Earth
- 628,499 km
- Computed from cached positions
- Distance from Venus
- 0.28 AU
- Computed from cached positions
Mission
Luna 10 gave the Moon its first artificial satellite. An identical spacecraft had been stranded in Earth orbit a month earlier and was named Kosmos 111; Luna 10 left Baikonur on 31 March 1966. At a distance of 8,000 km from the Moon it turned and fired its engine, and at 18:44 UT on 3 April entered an orbit of 349 by 1,015 km. Twenty seconds later the 245 kg orbiter separated from its propulsion unit. It was the first human-made object to orbit any body beyond Earth. Its launch had been timed so that it would complete its first orbit as the 23rd Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union convened. On the morning of 4 April the 5,000 delegates heard the "Internationale" over loudspeakers, presented as a live broadcast from Luna 10 as it rounded the Moon. Thirty years later it was revealed to be a recording made the night before: controllers had not trusted a live broadcast, and in a session that morning a note had been found missing. The science was real. Over 56 days and 460 orbits it found a weak to non-existent magnetic field, no discernible atmosphere and a distorted gravity field, suggesting that the Moon's mass is unevenly spread; its gamma-ray spectrometer showed a surface resembling basalt on Earth. Its batteries ran out on 30 May 1966, and it is assumed to have crashed on the Moon later that year.
- 1966Luna 10 launches toward the Moon from the Baikonur CosmodromeLaunch
A month after an identical craft was stranded in Earth orbit as Kosmos 111.
It enters lunar orbit at 18:44 UT — the first human-made object to orbit another world.
- 1966The "Internationale" from the MoonMilestone
Party congress delegates hear the anthem presented as live from Luna 10 — in fact a recording from the night before.
- 1966Batteries exhaustedMission end
After 56 days and 460 orbits its signals stop.
Images
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