List of all Soviet moon probes (and related missions)

Date

Name

Type

Outcome

23 Sep 1958

Ye-1

Failed after 90 sec

12 Oct 1958

Ye-1

Failure after 104 sec

4 Dec 1958

Ye-1

Failure

2 Jan 1959

First Cosmic Ship

Ye-1

Passed the moon

18 Jun 1959

Ye-1a

Failure

9 Sep 1959

Ye-1a

Pad abort

12 Sep 1959

Second Cosmic Ship

Ye-1a

Hit the moon

4 Oct 1959

Automatic Interplanetary Station

Ye-2

Circled farside

15 Apr 1960

Ye-2F

Failure

16 Apr 1960

Ye-2F

Failure

4 Jan 1963

Ye-6

Failure

2 Feb 1963

Ye-6

Failure

2 Apr 1963

Luna 4

Ye-6

Missed moon

21 Mar 1964

Ye-6

Failure

12 Mar 1965

Cosmos 60

Ye-6

Failure

10 Apr 1965

Ye-6

Failure

9 May 1965

Luna 5

Ye-6

Crashed on moon

8 Jun 1965

Luna 6

Ye-6

Missed moon

18 Jul 1965

Zond 3

3MV

Passed, imaged moon

4 Oct 1965

Luna 7

Ye-6

Crashed on moon

3 Dec 1965

Luna 8

Ye-6

Crashed on moon

31 Jan 1966

Luna 9

Ye-6M

Soft-landed

1 Mar 1966

Cosmos 111

Ye-6S

Failure

31 Mar 1966

Luna 10

Ye-6S

Orbited moon

24 Aug 1966

Luna 11

Ye-6LF

Orbited moon

Date

Name

Type

Outcome

22 Oct 1966

Luna 12

Ye-6LF

Orbited moon

21 Dec 1966

Luna 13

Ye-6M

Soft-landed

10 Mar 1967

Cosmos 146

L-1

High-altitude test

8 Apr 1967

Cosmos 154

L-1

17 May 1967

Cosmos 159

Ye-6LS

Failure

28 Sep 1967

L-1

Failure

23 Nov 1967

L-1

Failure

4 Mar 1968

Zond 4

L-1

7 Feb 1968

Ye-6LS

Failure

7 Apr 1968

Luna 14

Ye-6LS

Orbited moon

23 Apr 1968

L-1

Failure

15 Sep 1968

Zond 5

L-1

Returned to the Earth

14 Nov 1968

Zond 6

L-1

Returned to the Earth

20 Jan 1969

L-1

Failure

19 Feb 1969

Ye-8

Failure

21 Feb 1969

N-1

L-1S

All-up test, failure

14 Jun 1969

Ye-8-5

Failure

3 Jul 1969

L-1S

All-up test, failure

13 Jul 1969

Luna 15

Ye-8-5

Crashed on landing

8 Aug 1969

Zond 7

L-1

Returned to the Earth

23 Sep 1969

Cosmos 300

Ye-8-5

Failure

22 Oct 1969

Cosmos 305

Ye-8-5

Failure

18 Nov 1969

KL-1E

Failure

19 Feb 1970

Ye-8-5

Failure

12 Sep 1970

Luna 16

Ye-8-5

Returned samples

20 Oct 1970

Zond 8

L-1

Returned to the Earth

10 Nov 1970

Luna 17/Lunokhod

Ye-8

Landed rover

24 Nov 1970

Cosmos 379

LK

LK test

2 Dec 1970

Cosmos 382

KL-1E

Block D test

26 Feb 1971

Cosmos 398

LK

LK test

27 Jun 1971

N-1

[LK, LOK]

Failure

12 Aug 1971

Cosmos 434

LK

LK test

2 Sep 1971

Luna 18

Ye-8-5

Crashed on landing

28 Sep 1971

Luna 19

Ye-8LS

Orbited the moon

14 Feb 1972

Luna 20

Ye-8-5

Returned samples

23 Nov 1972

N-1

LOK

All-up, with LOK (failure)

8 Jan 1973

Luna 21/Lunokhod 2

Ye-8

Landed rover

2 Jun 1974

Luna 22

Ye-8LS

Orbited the moon

28 Oct 1974

Luna 23 (failure)

Ye-8-5M

Crashed on landing

16 Oct 1975

Ye-8-5M

Failure

9 Aug 1976

Luna 24

Ye-8-5M

Returned samples

WHERE ARE THEY NOW? LOCATION OF SOVIET MOON PROBES

These are the current locations of Soviet moon probes:

In solar orbit

Name

Date of lunar flyby

Distance from moon (km)

First Cosmic Ship

4 Jan 1959

5,965

Luna 6

11 June 1965

160,935

Zond 3

20 July 1965

9,219

In eccentric Earth orbit

Name

Date of lunar

Distance from

Final orbit

flyby

moon (km)

(km)

Luna 4

5 Apr 1963

8,451

89,250-694,000*

* There are reports that Luna 4 was eventually perturbed into solar orbit. Impacted on the moon’s surface

Name

Date of impact

Coordinates

Location

Second Cosmic Ship

14 Sep 1959

39°N, 1°W

Marsh of Decay*

Luna 5

12 May 1965

31°S, 8°W

Sea of Clouds

Luna 7

7 Oct 1965

9.8°N, 47.8°W

Kepler, Ocean of Storms

Luna 8

6 Dec 1965

9.8°N, 63.3°W

Ocean of Storms

Luna 15

21 Jul 1969

17°N, 60°E

Sea of Crises

Luna 18

10 Sep 1971

56.5°E, 3.57°N

Apollonius

Luna 23 6 Nov 1974

*Also its upper stage, place of impact not known. On the moon’s surface, intact

13°N, 62°E

Sea of Crises

Name

Date of arrival

Coordinates

Location

Luna 9

2 Feb 1966

64.37°W, 7.08°N

Ocean of Storms

Luna 13

24 Dec 1966

18.87°N, 62.05°W

Ocean of Storms

Luna 16 landing stage

20 Sep 1970

0.68°S, 56.3°E

Sea of Fertility

Luna 17 landing stage

17 Nov 1970

38.28°N, 35°W

Bay of Rains (1)

Luna 20 landing stage

21 Feb 1972

3.53°N, 56.55°E

Apollonius

Luna 21 landing stage

15 Jan 1973

25.9°N, 30.5°E

Le Monnier Crater (2)

Luna 24 landing stage

18 Aug 1976

12.8°N, 62.2°E

Sea of Crises

(1) Also Lunokhod; (2) also Lunokhod 2.

In lunar orbit

Name

Date of arrival

Equatorial plane

Luna 10

3 Apr 1966

71.9°

Luna 11

27 Aug 1966

27°

Luna 12

25 Oct 1966

15°

Luna 14

10 Apr 1968

42°

Luna 19

5 Oct 1971

о

О

Luna 22

6 Jun 1974

19°, then 21°

Returned to Earth from the moon’s surface

Name

Recovery

Landing location

on Earth

Luna 16

24 Sep 1970

80 km SE of Dzhezhkazgan, 47.4°N, 68.6°E

Luna 20

26 Feb 1972

Kazakhstan, 48°N, 67.56°E

Luna 24

21 Aug 1976

Surgut, Siberia, 61.06°N, 75.9°E

Returned to Earth after circling the moon

Name

Recovery

Distance over moon (km)

Landing location

Zond 5

14 Sep 1968

1,950

Indian Ocean,

32°38’S, 65°33’E

Zond 6

17 Nov 1968

2,420

Kazakhstan

Zond 7

8 Aug 1969

2,000

Kazakhstan

Zond 8

20 Oct 1970

1,100

Indian Ocean,

730 km SE Chagos

The Automatic Interplanetary Station passed the moon at a distance of 6,200 km on 6th October 1959 and returned to the vicinity of the Earth, but no attempt was made at recovery.