Luna 24

Organization:	Soviet Union
Major Contractors:	NPO Lavochkin
Mission Type:	Planetary Science Lunar Sample Return
Satellite of:	Moon
Launch:	August 9, 1976 at 15:04:12 UTC
Launch Vehicle:	Proton 8K82K + Blok D
Mission Highlight:	170 gram Lunar sample returned to earth on August 23, 1976, 05:55 UTC 200 km Southeast of Surgut, western Siberia.
Mission Duration:	14 days
Mass:	5,800 kg
NSSDC ID:	1976-081A
Webpage:	NASA NSSDC Master Catalog (http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/MasterCatalog?sc=1976-081A)
Orbital elements
Semimajor Axis:	6,492.8 km
Eccentricity:	0
Inclination:	120°
Orbital Period:	119 minutes
Apogee:	115 km
Perigee:	115 km
Orbits:	~48
Entered Lunar orbit:	August 14, 1976
Lunar Landing:	August 18, 1976, 06:36 UTC
Landing coordinates:	12° 45' N, 62° 12' E .
Lunar liftoff:	August 19, 1976, 05:25 UTC
Instruments
Stereo imaging system :	Lunar photography
Improved Drill/Remote arm for sample collection :	collect lunar material
Radiation detector :	Lunar radiation environment
Radio-altimeter :	Lunar surface composition

Luna 24 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 24. The last of the Luna series of spacecraft, the mission of the Luna 24 probe was the third Soviet mission to retrieve lunar soil samples (the first two missions returning samples were Luna 16 and Luna 20).

The probe landed in the area known as Mare Crisium (Sea of Crisis). The mission successfully returned 170 grams of lunar samples to the Earth on 22 August 1976.

Luna 24 was the third attempt to recover a sample from the unexplored Mare Crisium (after Luna 23 and a launch failure in October 1975), the location of a large lunar mascon. After a trajectory correction on 11 August 1976, Luna 24 entered orbit around the Moon three days later. Initial orbital parameters were 115 x 115 kilometers at 120° inclination. After further changes to its orbit, Luna 24 set down safely on the lunar surface at 06:36 UT on 18 August 1976 at 12°45' north latitude and 62°12' east longitude, not far from where Luna 23 had landed. After appropriate commands from ground control, the Lander deployed its sample arm and pushed its drilling head about 2 meters into the nearby soil. The sample was safely stowed in the small return capsule, and after nearly a day on the Moon, Luna 24 lifted off successfully from the Moon at 05:25 UT on 19 August 1976. After an uneventful return trip, Luna 24’s capsule entered Earth’s atmosphere and parachuted down to Earth safely at 05:55 UT on 23 August 1976, about 200 kilometers southeast of Surgut in western Siberia. Study of the recovered 170.1 grams of soil indicated a laminated type structure, as if laid down in successive deposits. Tiny portions of the sample were shared with NASA in December 1976. Luna 24 remains the last Soviet or Russian probe to the Moon. An American spacecraft ( Clementine) returned to the Moon over fourteen years later.

• Launch Date/Time: 1976-08-09 at 15:04:12 UTC
• On-orbit dry mass: 4800 kg

As of 2003 neither the Soviet Union nor the countries of the former Soviet Union have soft landed any other spacecraft to the Moon, although they did launch several unmanned spacecraft to Venus, Mars and also two to Comet Halley.

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