1959-008A
The next probe, object E-2A or Luna 3, had a somewhat different design. It carried a camera and developing equipment, and was stabilized. The original E-2 design was modified when a change to the planned trajectory required a new communications design and the Yenisey-1 TV system was replaced by Yenisey-2. The system used special radiation-hardened film, and it was revealed later on that this film was actually captured from American Genetrix spy balloons. The probe was placed in an orbit around the Earth-Moon system, allowing it to photograph the far side of the lunar surface. The photographs were developed on board and transmitted back to Earth by radio. Unfortunately, the secrecy in which the probe was developed meant that astronomers were not fully included in the planning; the probe was launched at a time when the illumination of the far side was too high, and as a result there was very little contrast in the pictures. Cartographers spent several years giving names to entirely spurious features. Nevertheless, Luna-3 did return the first farside images, and enough true detail was visible to reveal that the far side had far fewer maria (dark plains) and more highland regions than the nearside. The probe was launched on Oct 4, the second anniversary of the first Sputnik, and passed the lunar farside at a distance of 6200 km at 1416 UTC on Oct 6. The imaging was done at aroud 0330 UTC on Oct 7. The craft returned to perigee on Oct 18 and continued transmitting from its elliptical orbit until Nov 15. It probably reentered in March or April 1960. As well as the photo experiment, Luna-3 also carried a micrometeoroid detector and radiation detectors.
| AMS Luna-3 | |||
| Date | Time | Event | Orbit |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 Oct 4 | 0043 | Launch by 8K72 | KB |
| 0048? | Blok-A sep | ||
| 0048? | Blok-E burn | ||
| Fairing sep? | |||
| 0055? | Blok-E sep | 200? x 476500 x 65 | |
| 1000 | 108000 km over 80E 5S | ||
| 1500 | 145000 km over 8.6S 5.8E | ||
| 1959 Oct 5 | 0900 | 248000 km over 14 20S 98.0 E | |
| 1700 | 284000 km over 20.5S 21.5W | ||
| 1959 Oct 6 | 1416 | Farside flyby, 6200 km | |
| 1959 Oct 6 | 1525 | Farside flyby, 6732 km (US calculation) | |
| 1700 | 371700 km over 17.5S 22.8W | ||
| 1700 | 15000 km over lunar coords 137 -12 | ||
| 1959 Oct 7 | 0330 | Farside imaging at 65600 km distance | |
| 0410 | End of imaging | ||
| 1700 | 417000 km from Earth at RA 16:31:37 -11:36 | ||
| 1959 Oct 8 | 1700 | 448000 km | |
| 1959 Oct 9 | 1700 | 466000 km 3S 22W | |
| 1959 Oct 10 | Apogee 1 | 47490 x 480500 x 80 | |
| 1700 | 470000 km over 1.4N 22.6W | ||
| 1959 Oct 12 | 1700 | 456000 km over 22 42W 9.4N | |
| 1959 Oct 13 | 1700 | 430500 km over 22.7W 13.9N | |
| 1959 Oct 15 | 1700 | 339200 km over 22.1W 25.6N | |
| 1959 Oct 16 | 1700 | 267000 km | |
| 1959 Oct 17 | 1700 | 166500 km | |
| 1959 Oct 18 | 1650 | Perigee 1 4 km/s | 41100 x 470100 |
| 1959 Oct 21 | 1700 | 342000 km over 37W 21S | |
| 1959 Oct 26 | 1759 | Apogee 2 | 47490 x 489000 |
| 1959 Oct 27 | 1700 | 484000 km over 38 06W 6 30N | |
| 1959 Nov 15 | End of ops | ||
| 1960 Jan 21 | 1252 | Perigee 7 | 18225 x ? |
| 1960 Jan 24 | 0237 | Second lunar flyby 50545 km | |
| 1960 Mar 8 | 0510? | Entry? | |
Payload:
- Yenisey-2 TV system
- Camera with 200 mm focal length
- Camera with 500 mm focal length
- Photographic camera development equipment
