History of spaceflight of studying the moon.The program ran from 1959 to 1976 and consisted of 15 successful missions, the program achieved many first achievements and collected data on the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Luna 2 became the first man made object to make contact with the moons surface in September 1959. Luna 3 returned the first photographs of the far side of the moon in October 1959. The Vostok Programme the first Soviet spaceflight project to put the Soviet citizens into low Earth orbit and return them safely. The programme carried out six manned spaceflights between 1961 and 1963.
Luna 23 Luna 23 Luna 23 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program developed by the Soviet Union. "Luna 23" was a Soviet Moon lander mission which was intended to return a lunar sample to Earth. Launched to the Moon by a Proton-K/D, the spacecraft was damaged during landing in Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). The sample collecting apparatus could not operate and no samples were returned. The lander continued transmissions for three days after landing. In 1976, "Luna 24" landed several hundred meters away and successfully returned samples. The asteroid-like object 2010 KQ is believed to be a rocket