Editing Luna programme (section)

== Mission types ==
{{Needs expansion|date=November 2024}}
The name ''Luna'' was used to designate a variety of spacecraft designs, to achieve several types of missions:

=== Impactors ===
{{Main|Lander (spacecraft)#Impactors}}
[[File:RIAN archive 510848 Interplanetary station Luna 1 - blacked.jpg|thumb|upright|Luna 1 impactor]]

Impactor spacecraft had the generic designation of '''Ye-1''' (or '''E-1''' depending on transliteration from Russian) and were designed to hit the near side of the Moon.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-1 |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e1.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-1A |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e1a.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref> [[Luna 1]] (January 1959) missed its intended impact with the Moon and became the first spacecraft to escape the Earth-Moon system.<ref name=siddiqi1/> [[Luna 2]] (September 1959) mission successfully hit the Moon's surface, becoming the first man-made object to reach the Moon.<ref name=siddiqi2>{{cite book|url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/beyond-earth-tagged.pdf|title=Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016|page=2|last1=Siddiqi |first1=Asif A.|lccn=2017059404|isbn=9781626830424|publisher=NASA History Program Office|edition=second|year=2018|id=SP2018-4041|series=The NASA history series|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> This was Luna's only impact success out of six tries from September 1958 to September 1959.

=== Flybys ===
[[File:FP2A3122 (23497693608).jpg|thumb|Luna 3 flyby spacecraft model]]
A flyby is the simplest lunar spacecraft, requiring neither a propulsion device for slowing, nor a guidance system sensitive enough to hit the Moon. Flyby spacecraft had the generic designations of '''Ye-2''' and '''Ye-3''' ('''E-2''' and '''E-3''' depending on transliteration from Russian).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-2A |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e2a.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-3 |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e3.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref> Their function was to transmit photographs back to Earth. [[Luna 3]] (October 1959) rounded the Moon later that year, and returned the first photographs of its [[Far side (Moon)|far side]], which can never be seen from [[Earth]].<ref name=siddiqi2/> This was Luna's only successful flyby, out of three tries from October 1959 to April 1960.

=== Soft landers ===
{{Main|Soft landing (aeronautics)}}
[[File:Kaluga Wikiexpedition (2016-06-11) 0134.jpg|thumb|Luna 9 lander model]]
Soft landers require rocket propulsion to slow their speed sufficiently to prevent the craft's destruction. They can continue to transmit pictures from the surface, and possibly dig into the lunar soil or return other information about the lunar environment. 

Luna program landers had the generic designations of '''Ye-6''' or '''Ye-6M''' ('''E-6''' or '''E-6M''' depending on transliteration from Russian).<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-6 |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e6.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-6M |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e6m.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref> Two successful soft landings were achieved out of thirteen attempts from January 1963 to December 1966.<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1" />  

[[Luna 9]] (''E-6 No.13'') became the first probe to achieve a soft landing on another planetary body in February 1966. It transmitted five black and white stereoscopic circular panoramas, which were the first close-up shots of the lunar surface.<ref name=siddiqi1>{{cite book|url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/beyond-earth-tagged.pdf|title=Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016|page=1|last1=Siddiqi|first1=Asif A.|lccn=2017059404|isbn=9781626830424|publisher=NASA History Program Office|edition=second|year=2018|id=SP2018-4041|series=The NASA history series|location=Washington, D.C.}}</ref> 

=== Orbiters ===
[[File:Luna 10 Musee du Bourget P1010504.JPG|thumb|Luna 10 orbiter model ]]
Orbiter spacecraft require less thrust and propellant than landers, but still require enough to achieve [[lunar orbit insertion]]. [[Luna 10]] (March 1966) became the first artificial satellite of the Moon.<ref name=siddiqi2/> Luna program orbiters had the generic designations of '''Ye-6LF''', '''Ye-6LS''', '''Ye-6S''' or '''Ye-8LS''' ('''E-6''', '''E-6LS''', '''E-6S''' or '''E-8LS''' depending on transliteration from Russian).<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-6LF |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e6lf.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-6LS |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e6ls.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-6S |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e6s.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-8LS (Luna 19, 22) |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e8ls.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref> Luna flew six successful orbiters out of eight attempts from March 1966 to May 1974.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":3" /><ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />

=== Rovers ===
{{Main|Lunokhod programme}}
[[File:Luna and Lunokhod.png|thumb|Luna 17 lander with Lunokhod 1 rover payload]]
More sophisticated soft lander craft can deploy wheeled vehicles to explore a wider area of the lunar surface than the immediate landing site. Luna program landers with rovers had the generic designations of '''Ye-8''' ('''E-8''' depending on transliteration from Russian).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-8 (Luna 17, 21 / Lunokhod 1, 2) |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e8.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref>

The first attempted Lunokhod failed in February 1969. [[Luna 17]] (November 1970) and [[Luna 21]] (January 1973) carried [[Lunokhod]] vehicles, which were the first robotic wheeled vehicles to explore the Moon's terrain.<ref name="siddiqi2" /> [[Lunokhod 1]] travelled {{convert|10.5|km|mi}} in 322 days and returned more than 20,000 television images and 206 high-resolution panoramas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.planetology.ru/panoramas/lunokhod1.php?language=english |title=Lunokhod 1 Panoramas|work=planetology.ru|access-date=April 30, 2013}}</ref> [[Lunokhod 2]] operated for about four months, and covered {{convert|42|km|mi}} of terrain,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.space.com/21923-soviet-moon-rover-driving-record.html|title=NASA Moon Probe Helps Revise Off-Planet Driving Record {{!}} Lunokhod 2|work=Space.com|first=Mike|last=Wall|date=July 11, 2013 |access-date=July 12, 2013}}</ref> A third Lunokhod was built and intended for launch in 1977, but never flew due to lack of launchers and funding.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.airspacemag.com/space-exploration/other-moon.html|archive-url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20140511103222/http://www.airspacemag.com/space/the-other-moon-landings-6457729/|url-status=dead|archive-date=2014-05-11|title=The Other Moon Landings|first=Andy|last=Chaikin|journal=Air & Space|date=February–March 2004}}</ref>

=== Sample return ===
{{Main|Sample return mission}}
[[File:Kaluga Wikiexpedition (2016-06-11) 0466.jpg|thumb|Luna 16 sample return lander model]]
More complex soft lander craft can robotically scoop up a small amount of [[Moon rock|lunar material]], lift off from the surface, and return the material to Earth. Luna program sample return landers had the generic designations of '''Ye-8-5''' or '''Ye-8-5M''' ('''E-8-5''' or '''E-8-5M''' depending on transliteration from Russian).<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-8-5 (Luna 15, 16, 18, 20) |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e8-5.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Luna Ye-8-5M (Luna 23, 24) |url=https://space.skyrocket.de/doc_sdat/luna_e8-5m.htm |access-date=2023-09-26 |website=Gunter's Space Page |language=en}}</ref>

[[Luna 16]] (September 1970), [[Luna 20]] (February 1972) and [[Luna 24]] (August 1976), returned samples of [[lunar soil]] to Earth.<ref name="siddiqi2" /><ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> A total of {{convert|301|g|oz|abbr=on}} of soil sample was returned from the three missions.

[[Luna 15]] (July 1969) flew at the same time as the [[Apollo 11]] mission. [[Neil Armstrong]] and [[Buzz Aldrin]] had already performed the first crewed lunar landing when Luna 15 began its descent, and the spacecraft crashed into a mountain minutes later.