Luna 3 flyby
Luna 3 · 1959 CE · The Moon
Photograph the far side of the Moon.
Historical context
No human had ever seen the far side of the Moon, and space engineers had to solve how to photograph and transmit it in a single pass. The grainy results opened the hidden hemisphere.
The voyage, step by step
Outward to the far side
4 October 1959
Luna 3 swings around the Moon on a trajectory that will carry it past the hidden hemisphere.
Around the limb
1959 CE
The Moon's gravity bends the probe's path and throws it back toward Earth without a single engine burn.
Forty minutes of film
1959 CE
Two lenses expose twenty-nine frames on temperature- and radiation-resistant film, then a machine develops them on board.
First photographs of the far side
7 October 1959
On 7 October it transmits twenty-nine images of a hemisphere no human has seen.
Naming a new world
1959 CE
The Soviet Academy of Sciences names the few dark patches found there, and the world accepts the names.
Transmitting home
22 October 1959
The probe radios its images back before contact is lost.
Outcome
Returned the first images of the lunar far side.
Luna 3
Soviet probe that returned the first photographs of the far side of the Moon in October 1959.
Sources
Continue exploring
- Luna 1 flybyLuna 1 · 1959 CE
- Luna 2 impactLuna 2 · 1959 CE
- Ranger 7 impactRanger 7 · 1964 CE
- Luna 9 landingLuna 9 · 1966 CE