Luna 23
Luna 23 — a Soviet sample-return lander damaged as it landed in Mare Crisium on 6 November 1974. Its drill could not work, so no sample came home, though it kept transmitting for three days. In 1976 Luna 24 landed a few hundred metres away and returned the sample.
Key facts
Mission & specifications
Mission
- Operator
- Lavochkin (USSR)
- Launched
- October 28, 1974
- Status
- Lost
Mission
Luna 23 was sent to drill into Mare Crisium, the Sea of Crises, and bring the sample home. Launched on 28 October 1974 on a Proton rocket, it went into lunar orbit and descended on 6 November. The landing, on unfavourable ground in the south of the mare, damaged the spacecraft: its sample-collecting apparatus could not operate, so no soil could be returned. Controllers kept in contact for three days, until 9 November. Decades later, Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter photographed the site. Its images appear to show Luna 23 lying on its side, with the ground around it brighter than the rest of the area — possibly disturbed by its own retrorockets. The Soviet Union tried again: a replacement launched in October 1975 failed to reach Earth orbit, and in August 1976 Luna 24 landed a few hundred metres from Luna 23 and brought back the sample it had been sent for.
- 1974Luna 23 launches toward the Moon on a Proton rocketLaunch
A sample-return lander bound for Mare Crisium.
Its drill cannot work, so no sample can be returned.
- 1974Last contactMission end
It transmits for three days after landing.
Images
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