1965-05-09 USSR Luna 5

A Luna 5 crash-landing cover, postmarked in Kaluga with a hand cancel on May 12, 1965.

Luna 5 was a Soviet unmanned lunar lander launched from Baikonur on May 9, 1965. It was the first Soviet lunar probe launched toward the Moon in two years and was intended to achieve the first soft landing on the lunar surface.

After a mid-course correction on May 10, 1965, a malfunction in the spacecraft's gyroscope caused it to begin spinning about its main axis. Attempts to fire the main engine for the landing maneuver were unsuccessful, leaving the spacecraft without proper attitude control. Luna 5 subsequently impacted the Moon on May 12, 1965, in the Sea of Clouds (Mare Nubium).