Ours on the moon

49 years ago, almost five years after the epoch-making flight of Gagarin, we once again demonstrated the power of our space program - the automatic station Luna-9 for the first time in the world made a soft landing on our natural satellite. In your face, USA!



The station consisted of two components: the transport module, which provided the flight to the Moon and landing on the surface, and the spherical probe, which was responsible for collecting and transmitting scientific information.
')
This was not our first attempt to gently land something on the moon. As you understand, all previous devices failed and crashed for a variety of reasons. Therefore, the design of "Luna-9" has absorbed the experience of all predecessors.

The deceleration of more than 1.5-ton station began at an altitude of 75 km from the surface of the Moon. By the time the surface was reached, the speed dropped from 2600 to several meters per second, and that very spherical probe was shot just before the touch. On the surface, he turned into a kind of high-tech lotus flower, the petals of which first leveled the probe, and then began to play the role of antennas.

In addition to the fact of a soft landing, Luna-9 also transmitted the world's first circular photo-panoramas of the lunar surface and measured the magnetic field.



Unfortunately, few people today remember this event in the history of astronautics. And a lot of time has passed, almost half a century. But still it was an important achievement, moreover, it completely belongs to our country, our science. Therefore, we congratulate everyone on the anniversary of the landing of the Moon-9, and may the memory of past achievements and exploits feed the enthusiasm of new generations of scientists and cosmonauts!