1974-05-29 USSR Luna 22

Luna-22, the second heavy orbiter, arrived at the Moon on June 2, 1974, and functioned for over a year. An elliptical orbit was established to facilitate photo surveying of the lunar surface, bringing the spacecraft within 15 to 30 km of the surface. Between June 9 and 13, it captured 10 panoramas using its optical-mechanical camera before moving back to a higher circular orbit to conduct additional experiments.