Status
Success
Luna 10
Launch Time
Thu Mar 31, 1966 10:46 UTC
Thu Mar 31, 1966 10:46 UTC
First satellite around the Moon.
Rocket
Mission Details
Luna 10
The spacecraft entered lunar orbit on April 3, 1966 and completed its first orbit 3 hours later (on April 4, Moscow time). After a midcourse correction on 1 April, Luna 10, the second of two hastily prepared Soviet Ye-6S probes (that is, the backup), successfully entered lunar orbit two days later at 18:44 UT. A 245-kilogram instrument compartment separated from the main bus, which was in a 350 x 1,000-kilometer orbit inclined at 71.9° to the lunar equator.
Luna 10 was battery powered and operated for 460 lunar orbits and 219 active data transmissions before radio signals were discontinued on May 30, 1966.
Payloads: 1
Total Mass: 1,582.0 kg
Lunar orbit
Location
Site 31/6, Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan
Stats
1966
31st orbital launch attempt
Molniya-M
4th mission
3rd mission of 1966
3rd successful mission
1st consecutive successful mission