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Luna 3
CompletedUSSR
Image: Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics, Moscow · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons
- Launched
- 4 Oct 195900:43:39 UTC
- Last contact
- 22 Oct 1959
- Duration
- 18 days
The first spacecraft to photograph the far side of the Moon, returning images that covered about 70% of it.
Milestones
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Launch4 Oct 1959Swings around the Moon6 Oct 1959Photographs the far side7 Oct 1959Last contact22 Oct 1959
Spacecraft
Probe that photographed the Moon on film, developed it on board and scanned the pictures for radio transmission to Earth.
- Launch mass
- 278 kg
- Size
- 1.3 m × 1.2 m, span 1.5 m
- Power
- Solar
- Last contact
- 22 Oct 1959
- Designator
- 1959-008A
Mission details from nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov.
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