Luna 3

"Lunik 3" 
NSSDC ID: 59-008A

Description:
Luna 3, an automatic interplanetary station, was the third space-
craft successfully launched to the Moon and the first to return
images of  the lunar far side. The craft was a cylindrically shaped
cannister which was equipped with radio communication and tele-
metering systems, an imaging system with an automatic film
processing unit, a set of scientific instruments, three solar cells
for electric power supply, and a temperature control system. It
had gas jets for stabilization and photoelectric cells to maintain
orientation with respect to the Sun and Moon. 

This spacecraft was controlled by radio command from Earth. It
was launched on a figure-eight trajectory which brought it over the
Moon (closest approach to the Moon was 6200 km) and around
the far side, which was sunlit at the time. It was stabilized while in
optical view of the far side of the Moon. On October 7, 1959, the
television system obtained a series of 29 photographs over 40
minutes, covering 70% of the surface, that were developed on-
board the spacecraft. The photographs were scanned and 17 
were radio transmitted to ground stations in facsimile form on 
October 18, 1959, as the spacecraft, in a barycentric orbit, 
returned near to the Earth. The photographs were to be retrans-
mitted at another point close to Earth but were not. 

The spacecraft returned very indistinct pictures, but, through 
computer enhancement, a tentative atlas of the lunar farside was 
produced. These first views of the lunar far side showed