File:Luna24_rev_fig.png · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Key facts
- Mission type
- Lunar sample return
- Operator
- Soviet space program
- Cospar id
- 1976-081A
- Mission duration
- 12 days, 14 hours and 51 minutes
- Bus
- Ye-8-5M
- Manufacturer
- NPO Lavochkin
- Launch mass
- 5,800 kg (12,800 lb)
- Launch date
- 9 August 1976, 15:04:12 UTC
- Rocket
- Proton-K / DM s/n 288-02
- Launch site
- Baikonur 81/23
- Contractor
- Krunichev
- Landing date
- 22 August 1976, 05:55 UTC
- Landing site
- 61°3′36″N 75°54′0″E / 61.06000°N 75.90000°E / 61.06000; 75.90000 , 200 km (120 mi) South-East of Surgut , Western Siberia
- Reference system
- Selenocentric
- Periselene altitude
- 115 km (71 mi)
- Aposelene altitude
- 115 km (71 mi)
- Inclination
- 120.0°
- Period
- 1 hour 59 minutes
via Wikipedia infobox
~7 min read
Encyclopedic overview
Luna 24 was a robotic probe of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. The 24th mission of the Luna series of spacecraft, the mission of the Luna 24 probe was the third Soviet mission to return lunar soil samples from the Moon (the first two sample return missions were Luna 16 and Luna 20). The probe landed in Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). The mission returned 170.1 g (6.00 oz) of lunar samples to the Earth on 22 August 1976.
Spacecraft
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Luna 24” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.
Gallery (2)
On the map
2 mapped locations