While Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were conclude human race ’s first Moonwalk , the Soviets made an oopsie : theirLuna 15probe break up into the Moon . The crash web site was about530 milesfrom the Sea of Tranquility .
On July 21 , 1969 , multitude around the world were glued to TV images of the Apollo 11 cosmonaut on the Moon . But space specialist were also tag the Soviet Luna 15 probe , which had launched three days before the Apollo mission . Luna 15 was just one in a long pedigree of Soviet probes that had made it to the Moon — Luna 2 was the first homo - made object to ram into the Moon way back in August 1959 ( other Luna missions let in the first lunar flybys , first photographs of the far side of the Moon , and so on ) .
Robots and Radios
Luna 15 ’s primary missionary work , although the Sovietsdidn’t admit it at the clip , was to land , collect samples of the lunar airfoil , and then hark back the sample via a pocket-sized capsule . If that had worked , the sample would have been the first machinelike take of lunar material , seduce a PR victory for the Soviet space course of study . Of course , that did n’t make out .
Frank Borman on the Apollo 8 mission . ikon courtesy of NASA .
The timing of the Luna 15 missionary post was a minuscule freaky for NASA , as it would orbit the Moon at the same time as Apollo 11 , and both would be transmitting radio signaling to Earth . NASA enlist Apollo 8 commandant Frank Borman to get some intelligence on Luna 15 ’s flight plan ; Borman was favorable with the Soviets , and had just come back from a trip to the USSR ( indeed , he was the first cosmonaut to do so ) . NASA ’s worry was that Luna 15 might introduce wireless noise if its area was too close to that of Apollo 11 . Borman ’s info from the Soviets confirmed that it would n’t be a problem , and a worldwide sigh of fill-in followed .
Luna 16 epitome courtesy of NASA .
The Luna 16 mission ( show above ) later win where Luna 15 had failed . Luna 16 was the first robotic probe to acres on the Moon and return a sample distribution to Earth ; the sampling came back on September 24 , 1970 . It brought home 101 grams of lunar regolith . ( The Apollo 11 astronauts brought back well over 20 kilograms of material , though it was a dramatically larger and more expensive mission . It ’s celebrated that in 1970 , the Soviets hadrobotscapable of doing this work — that ’s a huge achievement . )
Drama of the Highest Order
There is an audio transcription of scientists monitor the Luna 15 mission ( span July 19 - 21 , 1969 ) . The audio was relinquish in 2009 to cooccur with the 40th day of remembrance of the Moon landing place . The audio is from British scientists at theJodrell Bank Observatory , and features stargazer Sir Bernard Lovell and others who were listening in to both American and Soviet wireless transmissions via the Lovell radio set telescope .
The recording span various sessions , with the first drama being a Luna 15 row modification on Sunday , July 20 . That course change brought it closer to the landing situation of Apollo , which was a act of a shocker apply the Soviet flight plan antecedently provided . The next dramatic mo came on July 21 when the investigation began to descend ; it on the spur of the moment became vindicated to Lovell ’s squad that Luna 15 was plan to land , not just take orbital photos as the Soviets had show . This surprised everyone in the hearing room , and you could hear them discuss a rumor from a source in Moscow suggesting that the probe was design to return a sample . The team go to heed as the investigation lands , exclaiming " It ’s landing ! " and " Phew ! " The very last line is classical : " I say , this has really beendramaof the eminent rules of order ! "
See Also : The Russians Did n’t " Just expend a Pencil " in blank
