Luna 9 — The First Lunar Lander

Luna 9 sent the first photo back from the surface of the moon 55 years ago. This sketch of Luna 9 is from a vintage book that was Oleg Ivanovsky’s personal copy; he was the director for the Sputnik, Luna, Vostok 1, and Lunokhod programs.

She was the first soft landing on the moon. Actually, Luna 9 was the first time humanity operated a spacecraft on any planetary body, and the first success after 11 failed attempts. It proved that landing on the moon was possible, without sinking into the dust as some feared.

Cushioned by a landing bag for touchdown, Luna 9 unfolded four metal petals (like the spare in the first photo), which stabilized the spacecraft on the lunar surface. Rod antennas sprung out, with the inner surfaces of the petals serving as reflectors, and a rotating mirror and camera assembly sent back panoramic views of the lunar surface — the first time humanity saw close-up views of the surface of our moon. I like to think of her as Le Petit Prince’s rose. 🌹 🌙

Amazingly, the pictures from Luna 9 were not first published by the U.S.S.R. Instead, the U.K.’s Jodrell Bank Observatory, which was monitoring the craft, noticed that the signal format used was identical to the system used internationally by newspapers for transmitting pictures. The Daily Express rushed a suitable receiver to the Observatory and the pictures from Luna 9 were decoded and published worldwide, before the Soviets even admitted their success.

She now rests on the Oceanus Procellarum. I have the spare anchor petal for Luna 9, built by the Lavochkin Association (like the JPL of Russia), where I visited on my last trip to Russia.