| Luna 24 | |||||||||||||||
| Mission Type: | Lunar sample return | ||||||||||||||
| Operator: | Soviet space program | ||||||||||||||
| Cospar Id: | 1976-081A | ||||||||||||||
| Satcat: | 9272 | ||||||||||||||
| Spacecraft Bus: | Ye-8-5M | ||||||||||||||
| Manufacturer: | NPO Lavochkin | ||||||||||||||
| Launch Date: | 9 August 1976, 15:04:12 UTC | ||||||||||||||
| Launch Rocket: | Proton-K/DM s/n 288-02 | ||||||||||||||
| Launch Site: | Baikonur 81/23 | ||||||||||||||
| Launch Contractor: | Krunichev | ||||||||||||||
| Landing Date: | 22 August 1976, 17:55 UTC | ||||||||||||||
| Landing Site: | 61.06°N 75.9°W, South-East of Surgut, Western Siberia | ||||||||||||||
| Orbit Reference: | Selenocentric | ||||||||||||||
| Orbit Inclination: | 120.0° | ||||||||||||||
| Orbit Period: | 1 hour 59 minutes | ||||||||||||||
| Apsis: | selene | ||||||||||||||
| Interplanetary: |
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| Instruments: | Stereo photographic imaging system Improved drill/Remote arm for sample collection Radiation detector Radio-altimeter | ||||||||||||||
| Programme: | Luna programme | ||||||||||||||
| Previous Mission: | Luna 1975A | ||||||||||||||
| Next Mission: | Luna 25 | ||||||||||||||
Luna 24 was a robotic probe of the Soviet Union's Luna programme. The 24th mission of the Luna series of spacecraft, the mission of the Luna 24 probe was the third Soviet mission to return lunar soil samples from the Moon (the first two sample return missions were Luna 16 and Luna 20). The probe landed in Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). The mission returned of lunar samples to the Earth on 22 August 1976.