Luna 3

Key facts

Mission & specifications

Mission

Luna 3 showed humanity the side of the Moon it had never seen. For all of history the Moon has kept one face turned toward Earth, its far side forever hidden. In October 1959, just two years into the Space Age, the Soviet Union sent a small spinning probe on a loop around the Moon, and on 7 October its cameras photographed the mysterious far hemisphere for the first time. The technology was ingenious and primitive at once: Luna 3 carried actual photographic film, which it developed on board automatically, then scanned the negatives and radioed the images back to Earth as fuzzy, television-like pictures. Only seventeen frames were usable, grainy and low in contrast, but they were a revelation — the far side turned out to be strikingly different from the near side, rugged and cratered with almost none of the dark volcanic plains that form the familiar 'face' of the Moon. Soviet scientists named the new features, and for years the far side carried mostly Russian names. Luna 3 was a triumph of improvisation that answered one of the oldest questions about our nearest neighbour.

1. 1959Luna 3 sets outLaunch

   A small spinning probe is sent on a loop around the Moon.

2. 1959The far side revealedMilestone

   Luna 3 photographs the Moon's hidden far side for the first time, developing film on board and radioing it home.

3. 1959Last contactMission end

   The signal fades after 17 usable, history-making frames.

Images

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