On February 3, 1966, Luna 9 made its planned descent to the surface of the moon. By carrying this out successfully, Luna 9 achieved the first-ever soft landing on the moon. A.S.Ganesh takes you through the mission, explaining how the landing was carried out...
Did you follow the Chinese lunar exploration mission Chang’e 4 as it made its progress to the moon? If you did, you must be knowing that the Chang’e 4 mission made history when it achieved the first soft landing on the far side of the moon on January 3, 2019. Having achieved its primary objective, the mission now continues to study and relay vital information regarding the moon.
Fifty three years earlier (a month short to be precise), the first-ever soft landing anywhere on the surface of the moon was carried out successfully. This was done by the erstwhile Soviet Union during an era when they were deeply involved in a space race with the Americans.
The need for a soft landing
Chief among the objectives of the space race was landing the first human beings on the moon. To this effect, unmanned spacecraft had been sent to the moon, to better understand it before the final plunge. While photos had been clicked, including those of the far side of the moon, and spacecraft had crashed into the moon, a soft landing wasn’t managed until 1966.
A soft landing on the lunar surface was crucial because there were a band of astronomers who held the belief that the moon’s surface need not be firm after all and could instead be covered by a layer of dust. Such a scenario would then mean that astronauts visiting the moon might sink into a dusty quicksand, ending humanity’s attempts to land themselves on the moon.
While you might be able to laugh off such a proposition now, you can understand how important this must have been in the 1960s. For space race or not, putting human lives in danger is least sought-after and it was important to minimise the unknowns as much as was possible.
Ingenious landing method
The Luna 9 mission was launched successfully on January 31, 1966. The spacecraft consisted of a sealed container which held the radio system, programming device, batteries, thermal control system and scientific apparatus.