Luna 23

Failed

Facts last verified against primary sources on 2026-10-10 · dates are a estimate

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

Facts

Operator: Lavochkin design bureau (USSR)
Country: SU
Type: lander
Launch: no earlier than Oct 1974
Landing: no earlier than Nov 1974
End: no earlier than Nov 1974

Landing site

Mare Crisium · 12.6667°N 62.1511°E ± 3 m

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

Landed

Planned landing site

Crash or hard landing

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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 23 (1974-084A)2026-10-10

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

Sample-return lander. Landed at about 11 m/s on 6 Nov 1974 (only the date is published in the sources fetched, so landing_utc uses T00:00:00Z); damage prevented drilling and sample return. Contact was maintained until 9 Nov 1974 (date only). LRO images show the lander lying on its side (Siddiqi 2018). Coordinates from LROC (Wagner et al. 2017). Launch time is confirmed (Siddiqi 2018); schedule_confidence 'estimate' applies to the date-only landing and end.