Editing Luna 4 (section)

{{Short description|Space probe}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2020}}
{{italic title}}
{{Infobox spaceflight
| name                  = ''Luna 4''
| image                 = Luna 9 Musee du Bourget P1010505.JPG
| image_size            = 
| image_caption         = Mockup of the Luna 9 (a Ye-6 series), Museum of Air and Space Paris, Le Bourget (France)

| mission_type          = [[Moon|Lunar]] lander
| operator              = Soviet space program
| COSPAR_ID             = 1963-008B<ref name=nssdc>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1963-008B|title=Luna 4|website=NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive|access-date=25 August 2024}}{{PD-notice}}</ref>
| SATCAT                = 566<ref name=nssdc />
| mission_duration      = 13 days (launch to last contact)
| spacecraft            = [[Luna_programme#Soft_landers|Ye-6]] No.4<ref name=gunter>{{cite web|url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e6.htm|title=Luna Ye-6|website=Gunter's Space Page|last1=Krebs|first1=Gunter|access-date=October 22, 2019}}</ref>
| spacecraft_type       = 
| manufacturer          = [[OKB-1]]
| dry_mass              = 
| launch_mass           = {{convert|1422|kg}}
| power                 =
| launch_date           = {{start-date|April 2, 1963, 08:04:00|timezone=yes}}&nbsp;UTC<ref name=nssdc />
| launch_rocket         = [[Molniya-L]] 8K78/E6
| launch_site           = [[Baikonur Cosmodrome|Baikonur]] [[Baikonur Cosmodrome Site 1|1/5]]<ref name=gunter />
| launch_contractor     = 
| last_contact          = April 15, 1963
| orbit_epoch           = April 2, 1963<ref name=nssdc/> 
| orbit_reference       = 
| orbit_periapsis       = {{cvt|690000|km}}<ref name=nssdc/> 
| orbit_apoapsis        = {{cvt|89250|km}}<ref name=nssdc/> 
| orbit_inclination     = 
| orbit_period          = 
| orbit_semimajor       = 
| orbit_eccentricity    = 
| apsis                 = apsis
| programme             = '''[[Luna programme]]'''
| previous_mission      = ''[[Luna E-6 No.3|Luna 1963B]]''
| next_mission          = ''[[Luna E-6 No.6|Luna 1964A]]''
|interplanetary         = 
 {{Infobox spaceflight/IP
   |type                = lander_flyby
   |object              = [[Moon|Lunar]]
   |arrival_date        =  April 5, 1963, 13:25 UT
   |distance            = {{convert|8400|km}}
 }}
}}
'''''Luna 4''''', or '''E-6 No.4''' (Ye-6 series), sometimes known in the West as '''Lunik 4''', was a [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] spacecraft launched as part of the [[Luna program]] to attempt the first [[soft landing (rocketry)|soft landing]] on the [[Moon]]. Following a successful launch, the spacecraft failed to perform a course correction and as a result it missed the Moon, remaining instead in Earth orbit before possibly transitioning into a solar orbit. Though the mission was unsuccessful, it nevertheless marked a new epoch in the [[Space Race]], which culminated in the successful landing of [[Luna 9]] in 1966.