Word: luna
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...scientists, in any case, agreed that the maria are probably quite alike, a view supported by the first Russian scientist to attend a NASA moon conference. Reporting on the 3 oz. of dust gathered last September from the Sea of Fertility by the automated Soviet moon probe, Luna 16, Geochemist Aleksandr Vinogradov indicated that the dark gray samples were very similar to the American lunar specimens from the Ocean of Storms and the Sea of Tranquility, Apollo 11 's landing site. He elicited even greater interest with his revelation that the Russians are planning still more sophisticated unmanned retrievers...
...Soviets were understandably exultant. "The flight of Luna 17 signifies the start of a new stage in the study of the moon," said Radio Moscow. U.S. space officials saw no reason to disagree. "Just fantastic," said one NASA scientist. His boss, Acting NASA Chief George Low, noted that the Russians had launched 22 space missions in the past two months alone-earth satellites as well as two moon shots. With the addition of Luna 17 to the list, he said, it is clear that the Soviet Union is "operating with an advanced state of technology and is exploiting...
Vague Hints. Luna 17 landed on the unexplored Sea of Rains, one of the oldest lunar maria. It lies some 1,400 miles northwest of the Sea of Fertility, where Luna 16 landed two months ago to scoop up 3.5 oz. of moon dust for later study on earth. At first, the Russians gave only the vaguest hints about Luna 17's mission. But once the rover demonstrated its maneuvering ability, they began revealing details of their moon machine...
Lunar Mapping. One thing Lunokhod cannot do is come back to earth. Even though it was built of extremely light materials, its undisclosed weight is apparently too great for the lift-off capability of Luna 17. In that respect, Lunokhod resembles NASA's own lunar rover,* which will be carried to the moon by Apollo...
...third day, Lunokhod had moved confidently across at least 600 ft. of lunar soil, turned to photograph the mother ship, climbed up an incline and crossed a small crater. The robot also displayed impressive scientific skills. Like Luna 16, it carries a device to gouge out samples of lunar soil. It also has the capacity to analyze samples -with an onboard X-ray spectrometer -and report the findings to earth. In addition, it can detect cosmic rays, stomp on the ground to test its rigidity and-speculates Heinz Kaminski of West Germany's Bochum Observatory, where the radio transmissions...