
Mission Details
Mission Name: Luna 9 |
Mission Type: Lunar Lander |
Operator: Soviet Union (Roscosmos) |
Launching State: Soviet Union/Russia |
Location: Oceanus Procellarum |
Latitude: 8 |
Longitude: -64 |
Launch Date: 31 January 1966, 11:41:37 UT |
Landing Date: 3 February 1966, 18:45:30 UT |
Objects on or Related to Site: Luna 9 |
Image Source: NASA |
Description
Luna 9 was intended to, and did, achieve the first soft landing on the Moon. The lander proved spacecraft would not simply sink into lunar dust, a finding that paved the way for future Moon landings, including the Apollo missions.

Read more:
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/luna-09/in-depth/
Heritage Consideration
Luna 9 was the first human spacecraft to make a soft landing on a celestial body other than Earth.
Object on or Related to Site
Object Name: Luna 9 | |
Cospar: 1966-006A | |
Norad: N/A | |
Location: Precise location unknown or undisclosed. | |
Launch Date: 31 January 1966, 11:45:00 UT | |
Landing Date: 3 February 1966, 18:45:30 UT | |
Deployment: N/A | |
End Date: 6 December 1965 | |
Function: Continue investigations of a lunar soft landing. | |
Image Source: NASA |
Description
Luna 9 was the first spacecraft to achieve a lunar soft landing and to transmit photographic data from the Moon’s surface to Earth, preceding the U.S. Surveyor 1 soft lander by about 4 months. The probe also proved that the lunar surface could support the weight of a lander and that an object would not sink into a loose layer of dust as some models predicted. Luna 9 launched on 31 January 1966 from Baikonur Cosmodrome and reached the Moon on 3 February.
Read more:
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-006A