Luna Program (1959-1976)

Luna Program was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to reach the Moon. It was launched on January 2, 1959. Luna 2 was similar in design to Luna 1, a spherical spacecraft with protruding antennae and instrument parts.

Luna 3 was he first to return images of the lunar far side. A total of 29 photographs were taken, covering 70% of the far side. The last of the Luna series of spacecraft, the mission of the Luna 24 probe was the third Soviet mission to retrieve lunar ground samples (the first two were Luna 16 and 20).