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Aviation History
1966
1966 - 0378.PDF
FLIGHT International, 10 February I96& The first Soviet picture of the lunar surface as transmitted by Luna 9 on February 4 was shown on Moscow television on the night of February 5. The stone casting the long shadow was said to measure about IScm (6in) and to lie about 2m (6ft 6in) from the spacecraft. The distance to the horizon was stated to be about 1.5km (I mile) and the Sun's inclination about 7° above the Moon's horizon. A part of the spacecraft is visible at the foot of the picture ;...;,;„,:: .v-; ..,-.„.,. - Spaceflight LUNA 9 PHOTOGRAPHS LUNAR LANDSCAPE AFTER achieving the first successful soft-landing by aspacecraft on the surface of the Moon on February 3,the Soviet Union took its time last week in releasing photographs of the lunar surface obtained by the spacecraft. Manchester University's radio astronomy station at Jodrell Bank stepped in to release the first pictures based on radio signals received from the craft, reconstituted via a Daily Express wire-photo machine; these were later condemned as inaccurate and sensational by Academician Anatoli Blagon- ravov, chairman of the Soviet Commission for the Exploration and Use of Outer Space. On Monday, January 31, the news agency Tass announced that the spacecraft Luna 9 was on its way to the Moon, but did not disclose its purpose. The agency communique stated: "The Soviet Union has launched a Luna 9 automatic station. The station is travelling towards the Moon along a trajectory dose to the calculated one. All the equipment is functioning normally. On board the station is scientific, telemetric and other measuring apparatus which is switched on automatically in accordance with the flight programme as well as on orders from Earth. "According to data from the co-ordination and calculating centre, the Luna 9 station was 34,130km from the Earth at6 p.m. Moscow time (3 p.m. GMT) today and over a point on the Earth 49°30'N and 74 °E." On Wednesday, February 2, Luna 9 was reported to be continuing on course, and on the evening of Thursday, February 3 came the historic communique by Tass announcing the successful landing: "Today, on February 3, 1966, aty -45i p.m., Moscow time (6.451 p.m. GMT), the automatic station Luna 9, launched on January 31, has soft-landed on the surface of the Moon in the area of the Ocean of Storms to the west of the craters Reiner and Maria. Radio contact with the station on the surface of the Moon is reliable. Trans- missions are on 183.538Mc/s. The instruments on board the station are functioning normally. The next communication session will take place from midnight until 12.15 a.m. Moscow time on February 4 (9 to 9.15 p.m. GMT on February 3)." The landing was confirmed by signals received at Jodrell Bank. After a short silence following the landing, signals con- tinued to be received until shortly after 7 p.m. Further signals were received from Luna 9 at Jodrell Bank shortly after 9 p.m. the same night, and were recorded. The next day (Friday, February 4) the 250ft steerable aerial at Jodrell Bank was again trained on the Moon as it rose above the horizon shortly before 3 p.m. First signals were received at 3.30 p.m. and half an hour later the reception of picture signals began. They were processed using Muirhead facsimile jodrell Bank's version of the same lunar landscape was published 24 hours before the Soviet picture. Note the condensed horizontal scale which changes the proportions of all features
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