AstrotalkUK

Not for profit website/blog on astronomy, space and my writing

  • Home
    • FAQ
    • Contact
    • About
    • Privacy Policy
  • Content
    • Podcast
    • All episodes
    • Book Review
    • Cyber Security
  • Events

Declassified Files. Luna 16 Mission. USSR’s first robotic lunar sample return mission 24 Sep 1970

By Gurbir Dated: September 25, 2020 Leave a Comment

On 24 September 1970, the USSR’s robotic sample return mission, Luna 16 returning 101g of Lunar Soil to Kazakstan from where it had departed for the Moon almost two weeks earlier. Following Apollo 11 in July and Apollo 12 in November 1969, Luna 16 was the third mission to return lunar sample to Earth.

On the 50th anniversary of Luna 16 parachuting down to Earth, documents, (in Russian but Google Translate does a pretty good job) videos, illustrations and photos were made public on 24th September 2020. Direct link to archive here. This was brought to my attention by the USSR/Russia and China space specialist and author Brian Harvey.

In total, the USA brought back 380kg of lunar soil and rocks in 6 crewed Apollo (11-12, 14-17) missions and the USSR, 301g in three robotic missions. Another 2kg is expected to be added to this tally. China’s Change’5 lunar sample return mission is due to launch in late November.

A summary of all the lunar sample return missions below.

The 3 part film “Rocket and space complex” 8K82K – E8-5 “tells of USSR’s robotic lunar program return programme.

Part 1
Part 2

Part 3
Lunar Sample return Missions

  • September 1970 Luna 16 101g
  • February 1972 Luna 20 30g
  • August 1976 Luna 24 170
  • Total 301g (USSR)
  • July 1969 Apollo 11 22kg
  • November 1969 Apollo 12 34kg
  • January 1971 Apollo 14 43kg
  • July 1971 Apollo 15 77kg
  • April 1972 Apollo 16 94kg
  • December 1972 Apollo 17 110kg
  • Total 380kg (USA)

Share this:

  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window) LinkedIn
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook

Related

Filed Under: apollo, Moon, Russia, USSR Tagged With: USSR

Join Mailing List

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Find me online here

  • E-mail
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo
  • YouTube

subscribe to mailing list and newsletter

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Browse by category

Recent Comments

  • Frank Pleszak on Episode 117 – Early Aviation in Manchester
  • Gurbir Singh on Episode 111 – Chandrayaan-3
  • Lunar Polar Exploration Mission: Difference between revisions – भोजपुरी on Episode 82: Jaxa and International Collaboration with Professor Fujimoto Masaki
  • Gurbir on Public Event. Anglo Indian Stephen Smith – India’s forgotten Rocketeer
  • Sandip Kumar Chakrabarti on Public Event. Anglo Indian Stephen Smith – India’s forgotten Rocketeer

Archives

Select posts by topic

apollo astrobiology Astrophotography BIS Book Review Carl Sagan CCD CCSK China Cloud Computing cnsa commercial Cosmology curiosity Education ESA Gagarin History India Infosec ISRO jaxa Jodrell Bank Mars Media Moon NASA podcast radio astronomy Rakesh Sharma rocket Rockets Roscosmos Science Science Fiction seti Solar System soviet space space spaceflight titan USSR video Vostok Yuri Gagarin

Copyright © 2008–2025 Gurbir Singh - AstrotalkUK Publications Log in