The Russian space agency has published a series of documents on the mission of the Soviet interplanetary station Luna-16, which has become an important part of the so-called lunar race.
50 years ago, on September 24, 1970, for the first time in history, an automated spacecraft delivered lunar soil samples to Earth. The mission was carried out by the Soviet interplanetary station "Luna-16".
The device weighing 5,600 kilograms was launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome on September 12, 1970: for this, the Proton-K launch vehicle was used. The station entered orbit around the Moon on September 17, and on the 20th, Luna-16 performed a soft landing on a satellite of our planet. The mission set several records, including the world record for the maximum mass delivered to the lunar surface in class "C".
The documents released now tell about the preparations for the launch of "Luna-16", the technical features of the spacecraft, the course of the mission and many other aspects that will be of interest to everyone who is not indifferent to space topics.
Thus, readers can familiarize themselves with archival documents, in particular, the technical report "Basic Provisions for Object E-8" (designation of a spacecraft for a flight to the Moon). Undoubtedly, photo and video materials are of great value.
Among other things, you can see the return rocket of the E8-5 object before being installed on the landing platform, as well as the installation of a screen-vacuum thermal insulation on the return rocket.
One of the photographs shows the L-16 soil receiving chamber, the other - a capsule with a soil carrier.
In addition to photographs, among the documents presented there are many illustrations: in particular, those who wish can familiarize themselves with the flight diagram of the E-8 and E8-5 landing vehicles within the framework of the "near-earth orbit - circumlunar orbit - lunar surface" route.
Another illustration shows the layout of the E8-5 reentry vehicle to be rescued. There are also diagrams of the soil intake device, placement of spacecraft sensors, flight and landing diagrams, and other important information about the mission.
Earlier, we will remind, the Russian space agency has declassified documents on the first manned spacewalk: the mission was carried out by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov. And before that, Roscosmos published unique data on the flight of Yuri Gagarin. Among them - the service characteristics of the cosmonaut and the reaction to the success of the Soviet Union of the world media.