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Soviet Union Lunar Sample Return Missions
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Caption:
On February 21, 1972, Luna 20 soft landed in the rugged highlands between Mare Fecunditatis and Mare Crisium. The next day a sample return capsule blasted off carrying 55 grams of lunar soil. The Luna 20 descent stage still sits silently on the Moon, clearly visible in this LROC NAC image M119482862RE.
Background Info:
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center built and manages the mission for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera was designed to acquire data for landing site certification and to conduct polar illumination studies and global mapping. Operated by Arizona State University, LROC consists of a pair of narrow-angle cameras (NAC) and a single wide-angle camera (WAC). The mission is expected to return over 70 terabytes of image data.
Cataloging Keywords:
| Name | Value | Additional Values |
|---|---|---|
| Target | Moon | |
| System | Earth | |
| Target Type | Satellite | |
| Mission | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) | |
| Instrument Host | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter | |
| Host Type | Orbiter | |
| Instrument | Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (NAC) | |
| Detector | Narrow Angle Camera (NAC), Wide Angle Camera (WAC) | |
| Extra Keywords | Grayscale | |
| Acquisition Date | ||
| Release Date | 2010-03-15 | |
| Date in Caption | 1972-02-21 | |
| Image Credit | NASA/GSFC/Arizona State University | |
| Source | photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA12960 | |
| Identifier | PIA12960 | |
