Editing Lunokhod programme (section)

{{short description|Soviet Moon rover program}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2014}}
[[Image:Lunokhod-mission.jpg|thumb|The Lunokhod mission diagram]]
[[File:Soviet moonrover.JPG|thumb|Soviet lunar rover]]

'''Lunokhod''' ({{lang-rus|Луноход|p=lʊnɐˈxot}}, "Moonwalker") was a series of [[Soviet space program|Soviet]] [[robotic spacecraft|robotic]] [[lunar rover]]s designed to [[Moon landing|land on the Moon]] between 1969 and 1977. Lunokhod 1 was the first roving remote-controlled robot to land on an extraterrestrial body.

The 1969 Lunokhod 1A (Lunokhod 0, Lunokhod No.&nbsp;201) was destroyed during launch, the 1970 ''[[Lunokhod 1]]'' and the 1973 ''[[Lunokhod 2]]'' landed on the Moon, and ''Lunokhod 3'' (Lunokhod No.&nbsp;205, planned for 1977) was never launched. The successful missions were in operation concurrently with the [[Zond program|Zond]] and [[Luna programme|Luna]] series of Moon flyby, [[orbiter]] and landing missions.

The Lunokhods were primarily designed to support the [[Soviet crewed lunar programs|Soviet human Moon missions]] during the [[Moon race]]. Instead, they were used as remote-controlled [[robot]]s for exploration of the lunar surface and returning pictures, after the [[Apollo program|Apollo]] human lunar landings and cancellation of the Soviet human Moon programme.

The Lunokhods were transported to the lunar surface by [[Luna programme|Luna]] spacecraft, which were launched by [[Proton-K]] rockets.