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| A Luna 21 launch cover, postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on January 8, 1973. |
Luna 21, launched on January 8, 1973, was one of the Soviet Union's most successful lunar missions. Its principal achievement was delivering Lunokhod 2, the Soviet Union's second remotely controlled lunar rover, to the Moon. After a mid-course correction, Luna 21 entered lunar orbit on January 12, 1973. Luna 21 made its soft landing on January 15, 1973, in Le Monnier crater, on the eastern edge of Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity).
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| A Lunokhod-2 lunar exploration cover, postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on January 16, 1973. |
The robotic rover, Lunokhod-2, was deployed on January 16, 1973. It rolled off the landing platform to explore the Moon's surface for approximately four months. Similar to Lunokhod-1, it was equipped with two vidicon television cameras for navigation control and four optical-mechanical cycloramic cameras. The rover returned 86 panoramas and more than 80,000 navigational video images. Lunokhod 2 was an improved vehicle designed to travel farther and conduct more extensive scientific investigations.
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| A Lunokhod 2 First Day Cover from "KNIGA", postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on April 12, 1973. |
Luna 21 came only about three weeks after Apollo 17, the final crewed Apollo lunar landing. While Apollo 17 was sending humans across the lunar surface, the Soviet Union was preparing its own robotic vehicle for an extended exploration campaign. The landing site was approximately 180 km north of the Apollo 17 landing area.
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| A postcard featuring an illustration of the Lunokhod 2 lunar rover, postmarked in Moscow with a hand cancel on April 12, 1976. |
The mission demonstrated that robotic vehicles could perform sophisticated geological and geophysical exploration without putting humans at risk. It also represented a significant advance over Lunokhod 1. Lunokhod 1 had operated for about ten months and traveled roughly 10.5 km; Lunokhod 2 covered roughly 39 km in only about four months.
