Luna 17

Luna 17 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 17. It deployed the first robotic rover onto the surface of the Moon. Luna 17 was launched from an Earth parking orbit towards the Moon and entered lunar orbit on 15 November 1970. The spacecraft softly landed on the Moon in the Sea of Rains. The spacecraft had dual ramps by which the payload, Lunokhod 1, descended to the lunar surface. Lunokhod 1 was a lunar vehicle formed of a tub-like compartment with a large convex lid on eight independently powered wheels. Lunokhod 1 was equipped with a cone-shaped antenna, a highly directional helical antenna, four teleray spectrometer, an x-ray telescope, cosmic-ray detectors, and a laser device were also included. The vehicle was powered by a solar cell array mounted on the underside of the lid. Lunokhod 1 was intended to operate through three lunar days but actually operated for eleven lunar days (eleven earth months). The operations of Lunokhod officially ceased on 4 October 1971, the anniversary of Sputnik 1, after having traveled over 10.5 kilometres (6.5 miles) while taking pictures and performing numerous tests.