Whilst the American Pioneer 1 spacecraft, launched a year earlier, had failed to achieve lunar orbit and missed the moon entirely, the Luna 3 probe managed to successfully attain orbit and photograph the lunar far side, whilst it faced the sun.
The slim volume contains a few diagrams of the flight plan, schematics and general outline and a couple of shots of the first, blurry photographs of the unseen dark side. The device, referred to variously as Automatic Interplanetary Station, Ye-2 and Luna 3 or ‘Lunik 3’, as the American newspapers referred to it.
Such was the extent of the soviet pride in the mission, despite many setbacks - which would not be made public until many decades later - that the soviets decided to send a model of the probe on a world tour, as testament to Russian achievements. When the expo reached Paris, visiting CIA agents noticed that what was purported to be a model, was actually the deactivated back up device on display. As a result, the agency devised a plan to get a close look at the hardware, when it was due to be displayed in Mexico some weeks later and managed to hijack and covertly examine the probe. The soviets were never aware of the CIA’s tampering and the information gleaned from the operation redressed the balance in the space race.
Brian Harvey’s excellent volume ‘Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration’ gives a much clearer insight into the trials and tribulations faced by Chief Designer Korolev in an effort to beat the West in the space race. It’s interesting to note hat the identity of Korolev himself was kept secret until the end of the Cold War and many years after his untimely death following routine surgery in 1966.
His likeness is often seen on stamps and other materials now, but at the time, his identity was a closely guarded secret. Sergei Korolev was instrumental in a number of soviet firsts, including the Sputnik, Vostok, Voshkod and Soyuz programmes and also the development of the massive N1 launch vehicle.
Had Korolev lived and the soviets been able to perfect the N1 system, the moon landing may have been a much different affair.
The slim volume contains a few diagrams of the flight plan, schematics and general outline and a couple of shots of the first, blurry photographs of the unseen dark side. The device, referred to variously as Automatic Interplanetary Station, Ye-2 and Luna 3 or ‘Lunik 3’, as the American newspapers referred to it.
The amazing complex probe had to achieve several complex objectives, including attaining orbit on the lunar farside, whilst it was sunlit, photograph 70% of the surface and still be in a position to beam the images back via radio link, to russian receivers waiting on Earth. On the orbital insertion, the probe developed a serious problem and the Chief Designer and his team had to be taken by the fastest jet available back to the base, to attempt to signal new instructions. After a gruelling journey across russia and a last minute helicopter ride through a snowstorm, the team managed to contact the probe with new instructions and brought it back into place and ready to work.
The radio telescope at Jodrell Bank, was one of the first to receive televised images from the probe, as it was situated in prime position at the time of transmission, so the pictures were immediately released without direct authorisation from the soviets. However, as the photos were the first images of the uns3een far side, it became a media coup for the russians.
Due to soviet secrecy and the covert nature of the launches, the designation of Luna 3 was applied as it was the third public launch by Russia, rather than the actual number. Luna 3 had been preceded by many other probes, but only two had been moderately successful and acknowledged by the KGB and space Agency.
