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The Luna programme (occasionally called Lunik) was a series of unmanned space missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. Fifteen were successful, each designed as either an orbiter or lander, and accomplished many firsts in space exploration. They also performed many experiments, studying the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Twenty-four spacecraft were formally given the Luna designation, although more were launched. Those which failed to reach orbit were not publicly acknowledged at the time and not assigned a Luna number and ones which failed in low Earth orbit were usually given Cosmos designations*. They are named the Luna programme because Luna is the Russian word for Moon. 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 another world. 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 even carried roving vehicles which roamed around on the Moon's terrain (see Lunokhod programme). Another major achievement of the Luna programme was the ability to collect samples of lunar soil and return them to Earth, by 1970. The Apollo missions, however, returned much more Moon soil. The Soviet program returned 0.326 kg of lunar samples while the US program returned over 480 kg, some selected on-site by a geologist. However, robotic exploration is the current mainstream of Solar System research. Late Luna missions were the first advanced missions of the kind.
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