Luna 21

Ended

Facts last verified against primary sources on 2026-10-10

Landing page: target, Sun and Earth from the site, nearby hardware →

Facts

Operator: Lavochkin design bureau (USSR)
Country: SU
Type: lander
Launch: 1973-01-08 06:55 UTC
Landing: 1973-01-15 22:35 UTC

Landing site

Le Monnier crater · 25.9994°N 30.4076°E ± 13.4 m

Soft landing · source: pds.lroc.im-ldi.com

Landed

Planned landing site

Crash or hard landing

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Timeline

1973-01-16 01:14 UTCLunokhod 2 disembarked onto the surface

Links

Sources

LROC Anthropogenic (man-made) Features on the Moon, PDS LRO-L-LROC-5-RDR-V1.0 EXTRAS/SHAPEFILE/ANTHROPOGENIC_OBJECTS (Wagner et al. 2017, Icarus 283, 92-103)README last updated 2026-08-142026-10-10
Siddiqi, A. A. (2018) Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958-2016, NASA SP-2018-40412nd edition, 20182026-10-10
NSSDCA, Soviet Lunar Missions summary page (D. R. Williams)2026-10-10
NSSDCA Master Catalog: Luna 21 (1973-001A)2026-10-10

Generated 2026-10-10T00:00:00Z

Delivered the Lunokhod 2 rover (separate record lunokhod-2). Coordinates are the LROC position of the Luna 21 lander (Wagner et al. 2017). Landing time 22:35 UT from Siddiqi (2018); the NSSDCA summary page gives 23:35 UT, so the hour is unresolved between these two NASA sources. No end date is published for the lander itself, so end_utc is omitted.