The Moon

III Exploration of the Moon

2.1) Luna “firsts”

Exploration of outer space in 20century has produced discoveries
And inventions that will forever change the way people live, learn and interact.
The dream of space travel is history but in the 20 century the dream became reality with astonishing swiftness. As you recoll, the first airplane flight occurred in 1903 and in 1926 the first liquid-fuelled rocket was launched that traveled 200 feet.

After World War II, the superpower opposition between the USA and the Soviet Union stimulated rocket research and development.

The age of space exploration began in 1957 when Sputnik 1, the first man-made object to overcome gravity, was launched by the Soviet Union. The first successful manned flight took place in 1961, when Yuri Gagarin was shot into space.

The first long space flight , a women in the space and space walk were all Soviet achievements ..
It’s quite naturally that the Moon, as the nearest celestial body, was the first object to reach by a space vehicle. The “space race” between the USA and the USSR culminated in the moon landing in 1969.

After this there was something of an anticlimax and the number of the manned missions dropped off largely due to the end of the space race.

I should say that American Apollo missions had been preparing since early 1960s.The Soviet Union had concentrated the efforts in to the Unmanned missions to the Moon. There were certain advantages: these missions seemed to be cheaper and safer. To explore space the Russian Mir Space Station was built, that was also ground-breaking.

As to the missions to the Moon, everything started on January, 2nd,1959 when space vehile Luna 1 was launched.

The Luna Program was one of two lunar exploration programs conducted by the Soviet Union. This was a very long-running program, with the first mission flying in 1959 and the last flying in 1976. The Luna missions were designed to collect information about the Moon and its environment, not only for scientific purposes but also to be used in the planning of future lunar missions including manned missions to the Moon. The series included flyby, lunar-orbiting, and soft-landing missions. Luna missions are noted in the Appendix.