Luna 14 (E-6LS series) was an uncrewed space mission of the

Luna program The Luna programme (from the Russian word "Luna" meaning "Moon"), occasionally called ''Lunik'' by western media, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. Fifteen were successful ...

run by the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

. It was also called Lunik 14.

Overview

The spacecraft is believed to have been similar to

Luna 12 Luna 12 (E-6LF series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 12. Overview Luna 12 was launched towards the Moon from an Earth-orbiting platform and achieved lunar orbit on October 25, 1966. The spacecraft was equipp ...

and the instrumentation was similar to that carried by

Luna 10 Luna 10 (or Lunik 10) was a 1966 Soviet lunar robotic spacecraft mission in the Luna program. It was the first artificial satellite of the Moon. Luna 10 conducted extensive research in lunar orbit, gathering important data on the strength of ...

. It provided data for studies of the interaction of the Earth and lunar masses, the lunar gravitational field, the propagation and stability of radio communications to the spacecraft at different orbital positions, solar charged particles and cosmic rays, and the motion of the Moon. This flight was the final flight of the second generation of the Luna series. Luna 14 successfully entered lunar orbit at 19:25 UT on 10 April 1968. Initial orbital parameters were 160 × 870 kilometers at 42° inclination. The primary goal of the flight was to test communications systems in support of the N1-L3 piloted lunar landing project. Ground tracking of the spacecraft's orbit also allowed controllers to accurately map lunar gravitational anomalies in order to predict trajectories of future lunar missions such as those of the LOK and LK lunar landing vehicles. Luna 14 also carried scientific instruments to study

cosmic ray Cosmic rays are high-energy particles or clusters of particles (primarily represented by protons or atomic nuclei) that move through space at nearly the speed of light. They originate from the Sun, from outside of the Solar System in our own ...

s and charged particles from the Sun, although few details have been revealed. The mission lasted 75 days.

References

External links

Zarya - Luna programme chronology
{{Orbital launches in 1968 Luna programme Spacecraft launched in 1968 1968 in the Soviet Union Spacecraft launched by Molniya-M rockets Satellites orbiting the Moon Non Earth orbiting satellites of the Soviet Union