Luna 23

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**Luna 23**
Orbital elements

Organization:	Soviet Union
Major Contractors:	GSMZ Lavochkin
Mission Type:	Planetary Science Lunar Sample Return
Satellite of:	Moon
Launch:	October 28, 1974 at 14:30:32 UTC
Launch Vehicle:	Proton 8K82K + Blok D
Mission Highlight:	Landed on moon November 6, 1974 at ~12° N 62° E Failed to return sample.
Mission Duration:	12-days November 9, 1974
Mass:	5,800 kg
NSSDC ID:	1974-084A
Webpage:	NASA NSSDC Master Catalog
Semimajor Axis:	6,476.8 km
Eccentricity:	?
Inclination:	138°
Orbital Period:	~119 minutes
Apogee:	104 km
Perigee:	94 km
Orbits:	~48
Entered Lunar orbit:	November 2, 1974
Lunar Landing:	November 6, 1974
Landing coordinates:	~12° N - ~62° E.
Instruments
Stereo imaging system :	Lunar photography
Improved drill/arm sample collector :	collect lunar material
Radiation detector :	Lunar radiation environment
Radio-altimeter :

Luna 23 (Ye-8-5M series) was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunnik 23. Luna 23 was a Moon lander mission which was intended to return a lunar sample to Earth. Launched to the Moon by a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster, the spacecraft was damaged during landing in Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). The sample collecting apparatus could not operate and no samples were returned. The lander continued transmissions for 3 days after landing. In 1976, Luna 24 landed several hundred meters away and successfully returned samples.

Luna 23 was the first modified lunar sample return spacecraft, designed to return a deep core sample of the Moon’s surface (hence the change in index from Ye-8-5 to Ye-8-5M). While Luna 16 and 20 had returned samples from a depth of 0.3 meters, the new spacecraft was designed to dig to 2.5 meters. After a midcourse correction on 31 October, Luna 23 entered orbit around the Moon on 2 November 1974. Parameters were 104 x 94 kilometers at 138° inclination. Following several more changes to the orbit, the spacecraft descended to the lunar surface on 6 November and landed in the southernmost portion of Mare Crisium. Landing coordinates were 13° north latitude and 62° east longitude. During landing in “unfavorable” terrain, the lander’s drilling device was evidently damaged, preventing fulfillment of the primary mission, the return of lunar soil to Earth. Scientists devised a makeshift plan to conduct a limited science exploration program with the stationary lander. Controllers maintained contact with the spacecraft until 9 November 1974.

Launch Date/Time: 1974-10-28 at 14:30:32 UTC
On-orbit dry mass: 5600 kg