Luna 16 sample return

Luna 16 · 1970 CE · The Moon

Return a lunar sample automatically.

Historical context

The Soviet Union answered the Apollo sample returns with an automatic mission that needed no crew. Luna 16 proved a robot could dig, launch and bring the Moon home.

The voyage, step by step

1. Sent up on a Proton

   12 September 1970

   On 12 September 1970 a heavy Proton lifts a 5,700-kilogram machine built to fetch lunar soil without a crew.

2. Automatic descent

   1970 CE

   Luna 16 enters lunar orbit, spends three days lowering it, then drops toward the Sea of Fertility on its own.

3. Landing in the dark

   1970 CE

   It comes down during the lunar night, guided by radar rather than by any view of the ground.

4. Drilling the Sea of Fertility

   1970 CE

   A hollow drill on an arm bores thirty-five centimetres into the basalt dust and rolls the core into a sealed capsule.

5. A robot brings the Moon home

   24 September 1970

   The ascent stage lifts straight off the lander and the capsule parachutes into the Kazakh steppe on 24 September.

Outcome

Returned about 100 grams of soil.

Luna 16

First robotic probe to return a sample of lunar soil to Earth.

Read on Wikipedia

Sources

• Luna 16 — Wikipedia

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