Cold War (1953–1962) human on the moon. The first of the Lunar missions was Luna 1, which launched on January 2, 1959. Its successful mission established the first rocket engine restart within Earth orbit and the first man-made object to establish heliocentric orbit. Luna 2, which launched on September 14, 1959, established the first impact into another celestial body (the moon). Finally, Luna 3 launched on October 7, 1959 and took the first pictures of the dark side of the moon. After these three missions in 1953, the Soviets continued their exploration of the moon and its environment in 21 other Luna missions.
Luna-Glob of the Luna 25 lander in 2017. As of August 2018, Luna 25 is planned to be launched in 2021, Luna 26 in 2022, Luna 27 in 2023, Luna 28 in 2024, and Lunas 29, 30, 31 in 2026. The Luna-Glob programme is a continuation of the Soviet Union Luna programme that sent at least twenty-four orbiters and landers between 1959 and 1976 to the Moon, of which fifteen were successful. The last mission was Luna 24, launched on 9 August 1976. Initially, the first Luna-Glob mission was planned as orbiter with ground penetrating sensors. Four Japanese-built penetrators inherited from