Luna Ye-6 (OKB-1) series, 1963-1965

The Ye-4 impactor and Ye-5 orbiter designs were made obsolete by the Ye-6. It was a modular spacecraft with a carrier spacecraft on which could be mounted either a soft lander or an orbiter module. The first Ye-6 series were built at OKB-1 for soft landings on the Moon but managed not a single success after eleven straight launch attempts over three years between January 1963 and December 1965.

Luna Ye-6M (Lavochkin) series, 1966-1968

Responsibility for robotic lunar and planetary spacecraft design and construction was transferred from OKB-1 to NPO-Lavochkin in 1965. Lavochkin introduced its own modifications, and was immediately rewarded with Luna 9, which became the first successful lunar lander on February 3, 1966. Lavochkin also produced several orbiter versions, and over the following 14 months achieved a record of six mission successes out of nine Ye-6M launches. Both Ye-6M landers were successful, Luna 9 and Luna 13. After one failed launch the first model of the Ye-6S yielded the first lunar orbiter, Luna 10, which had instruments to measure the particles and fields in the lunar environment. It was then modified to acquire orbital photography. Both of these Yc-6LF missions, Luna 11 and Luna 12, were successful although no useful imagery was acquired in the first case. Finally, after another modification produced the Ye-6LS, two failed launches were followed by the Luna 14 orbiter.