Achievements
Luna 1 missed its intended impact with the Moon and became the first spacecraft to fall into orbit around the Sun.
In 1959, the Luna 2 mission successfully impacted upon the lunar surface, becoming the first man-made object to reach the Moon.
Luna 3 rounded the Moon later that year, and returned the first photographs of its far side, which can never be seen from Earth.
Luna 9 became the first probe to achieve a soft landing on another planetary body (February 1966). It returned five black and white stereoscopic circular panoramas, which were the first close-up shots of the Lunar surface.
Later that year Luna 10 became the first artificial satellite of the Moon.
Luna 17 and Luna 21 carried vehicles that roamed around on the Moon's terrain (see Lunokhod programme).
Another major achievement of the Luna programme, with the Luna 16, Luna 20 and Luna 24 spacecraft, was the ability to collect samples of lunar soil and return them to Earth, by 1970. The program returned 0.326 kg of lunar samples. The Luna missions were the first space-exploration sample return missions to rely solely on advanced robotics.
Read more about this topic: Luna Programme
Famous quotes containing the word achievements:
“Freedom of enterprise was from the beginning not altogether a blessing. As the liberty to work or to starve, it spelled toil, insecurity, and fear for the vast majority of the population. If the individual were no longer compelled to prove himself on the market, as a free economic subject, the disappearance of this freedom would be one of the greatest achievements of civilization.”
—Herbert Marcuse (1898–1979)
“Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.”
—Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)
“There are some achievements which are never done in the presence of those who hear of them. Catching salmon is one, and working all night is another.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)