Luna 15

Luna 15
	Stamp depicting a Ye-8-5 bus spacecraft
Mission type	Lunar sample return
Operator	Soviet space program
COSPAR ID	1969-058A
SATCAT no.	4036
Mission duration	8 days achieved
Spacecraft properties
Bus	Ye-8-5
Manufacturer	GSMZ Lavochkin
Launch mass	5,667 kg (12,494 lb)
Dry mass	2,718 kg (5,992 lb)
Start of mission
Launch date	13 July 1969, 02:54:42 UTC
Rocket	Proton-K/D
Launch site	Baikonur 81/24
End of mission
Destroyed	21 July 1969, 15:51 UTC
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Selenocentric
Lunar orbiter
Orbital insertion	17 July 1969, 10:00 UTC
Lunar impact (failed landing)
Impact date	21 July 1969, 15:51 UTC
Impact site	17°N 60°E / 17°N 60°E
Instruments
	Stereo imaging system; Remote arm for sample collection; Radiation detector;
	Luna programme ← Luna 1969C Kosmos 300 →

Luna 15 was a robotic space mission of the Soviet Luna programme, that was in lunar orbit together with the Apollo 11 Command module Columbia.

On 21 July 1969, while Apollo 11 astronauts finished the first human moonwalk, Luna 15, a robotic Soviet spacecraft in lunar orbit at the time, began its descent to the lunar surface. Launched three days before the Apollo 11 mission, it was the second Soviet attempt to return lunar soil back to Earth with a goal to outstrip the US in achieving a sample return in the Moon race. The previous mission, designated E-8-5-402, launched 14 June 1969, did not achieve Earth orbit because the third stage of its launch vehicle failed to ignite. The Luna 15 lander crashed into the Moon at 15:50 UT, hours before the scheduled American lift off from the Moon.^[4]

^ ^a ^b Cite error: The named reference solarsystem_nasa_gov was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ "NASA Space Science Coordinated Archive: Luna 15". Retrieved 21 June 2022.
^ Siddiqi, Asif (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF) (second ed.). NASA History Program Office.
^ "Russian spacecraft landed on Moon hours before Americans". The Daily Telegraph. London. 4 July 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2019.

[solarsystem_nasa_gov-1] Cite error: The named reference solarsystem_nasa_gov was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[2] "NASA Space Science Coordinated Archive: Luna 15". Retrieved 21 June 2022.

[3] Siddiqi, Asif (2018). Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 (PDF) (second ed.). NASA History Program Office.

[4] "Russian spacecraft landed on Moon hours before Americans". The Daily Telegraph. London. 4 July 2009. Retrieved 17 July 2019.

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