1950s-70s Space Race to The Moon: 1966-01-31 USSR Luna 9

Launched on 31 Jan 1966, Luna 9 became the first spacecraft to make a controlled landing onto the surface of another celestial body on 3 February 1966.

Luna 9 was an uncrewed space mission of the Soviet Union's Luna programme, its liftoff took place at 11:41:37 GMT on January 31, 1966. On February 3, 1966, the Luna 9 spacecraft became the first spacecraft to land on a celestial body. The lander had a mass of 99 kilograms (218 lb) and consisted of a spheroid ALS capsule measuring 58 centimetres (23 in). It used a landing bag to survive the impact speed of 22 kilometres per hour (14 mph). It was a hermetically sealed container with radio equipment, a program timing device, heat control systems, scientific apparatus, power sources, and a television system.

Photo: Landing spot of the Luna 9 space craft.

The spacecraft was developed in the design bureau then known as OKB-1, under Chief Designer Sergei Korolev (who had died before the launch). The first 11 Luna missions were unsuccessful for a variety of reasons. At that time the project was transferred to Lavochkin design bureau since OKB-1 was busy with a human expedition to the Moon. Luna 9 was the twelfth attempt at a soft-landing by the Soviet Union; it was also the first successful deep space probe built by the Lavochkin design bureau, which ultimately would design and build almost all Soviet (later Russian) lunar and interplanetary spacecraft.

Luna 9 televised and transmitted across 250,000 miles (400,000 km) of space to earth, photographs of the surface, giving man a close-up look at its structure. Objects only a few inches in size showed up. It also conducted experiment to demonstrate that the bearing strength of the lunar ground was sufficient to hold a large spacecraft, and not destined to sink into layers of dust, as some astronomers had predicted. The communication with Luna 9 ended on 5 February 1966.