Lunar Probes: The Soviet Space Program's Luna Series of Probes

By the time of the Apollo 11 mission, the Soviets had already sent 15 successful probes toward the moon. A Soviet probe had crash landed on the Moon more ten years before the Apollo 11 mission. The Soviet space program ultimately achieved success with 20 "Luna" probes, and these probes discovered many interesting things about the moon and space. The discoveries made by these probes raise several issues in regards to the Apollo program and conspiracy theories.

The picture to the left shows Luna 9, which was the first craft to achieve a soft-landing on another planetary body. Luna 9 touched down on the lunar surface in February, 1966. The Luna 16 probe was able to return soil samples and lunar rocks to the Earth. Luna 16 also studied temperature and radiation data from the moon. The radiation data showed that humans could feasibly land on the moon safely. Some say that the data showed the moon to be "harmless" in terms of radioactivity, but one fact stands out: the moon would subject humans to more radiation than the Earth would. The amount of radiation differed by as much as 20% - depending on the test sites of various probes. They pondered - would a trip to the moon, then, pose a significant cancer risk to humans? Humans would have to cross the Van Allen radiation belts long before the Moon landing, so the real question was about 'how much radiation is enough?'

The Luna missions present a major stumbling block for believers in the validity of the American Moon missions: soil samples. Supporters of NASA's Apollo program often point to the loads of moon rocks brought back by the Apollo Astronauts as irrefutable evidence that the US sent men to the Moon. These moon rocks mean very little, though. If the Soviets could send unmanned probes to collect Moon rocks, then so too could the United States; furthermore, it has been said that Moon rocks can be collected on Earth. Apparently, Moon meteors arrive on Earth, and many of them are located near the Earth's axes in places like Antarctica. Dr. Wernher von Braun went on an expedition to Antarctica shortly before the Apollo program brought back the first lunar samples. In the end, one must admit that lunar samples do not prove that man ever set foot on the Moon. There are simply too many alternate explanations for how these samples made their way to geologists' desks.

Soviet probes demonstrated that humans would have to endure brutal temperature changes on the moon. These changes would span from -290 to 310 Fahrenheit (-179 to +154 Celsius). A complex suit would be necessary to create hospitable temperatures, and also to supply oxygen, food, water, remove waste, and more. NASA developed a spacesuit specifically for these purposes. While it may seem reasonable to some, the demands made on these spacesuits should seem quite intense to others. The changes in temperature alone, as discovered by the Luna probes, make the functioning of a such a suit problematic. Take the backpack for instance. NASA claims that oxygen was delivered to the Astronauts at approximately 50 degrees, yet no heating or cooling systems seem to exist within this backpack. A design flaw, or a telltale sign of inadequacy?

The Luna missions proved Soviet superiority in the early stages of the space race. When the Russians had landed their first probe on the moon in 1959, the Americans had barely begun to tinker with rocketry. Whether or not Soviet space superiority was a fleeting notion - we cannot say. The Apollo moon missions ultimately put the US on top the space race; however, this fact alone should raise questions about the validity of US missions to the moon. Wouldn't a faked mission to the moon be the perfect foil to the Soviets during the height of the Cold War? It certainly would have been.

The next blog article will discuss the Soviet N-1 rocket, and will explain, specifically, why the Soviets failed to land a man on the moon.