February 3, 1966

Luna 9

Luna 9 makes the first survivable lunar landing

Luna 9 did not settle onto landing legs: a capsule was ejected, bounced across the Moon inside an inflatable cushion, then unfolded like a four-petaled metal flower.

3 February 1966: down in Oceanus Procellarum

The Soviet Luna 9 spacecraft completed its rocket-braked descent at approximately 18:45:30 UT on 3 February 1966, landing in Oceanus Procellarum and becoming the first human-made object to achieve a survivable landing on another celestial body.

About an hour before touchdown, roughly 8,300 kilometres from the Moon, the spacecraft stopped spinning and oriented its engine along the lunar vertical using Sun- and Earth-tracking optics.

Radar, retrorocket, bounce

At approximately 75 kilometres altitude the radar altimeter commanded the braking engine to fire, cutting the descent velocity from about 2,600 metres per second to a few metres per second near the surface.

Near the surface the protected spherical landing capsule separated, struck the Moon at about 22 km/h inside its inflated cushioning system, bounced several times, and came to rest. Four minutes and ten seconds later its four petals and antennas deployed and radio communication began.

Pictures had to wait for the Sun

The first surface pictures were not transmitted at touchdown: imaging waited roughly seven hours for a higher Sun angle, so the first photographic transmission from the surface of another planetary body began early on 4 February.

Luna 9's precise resting place remains uncertain. The coordinates published in 1966 were approximate, and a 2026 machine-learning study reported possible artificial-object candidates rather than a confirmed identification of the lander.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 8 sources 3 audit passes

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

Luna 9’s precise resting place remains uncertain. The coordinates published in 1966 were approximate, and a 2026 machine-learning study reported possible artificial-object candidates rather than a confirmed identification of the lander.
Sources use both “soft landing” and the more literal “survivable landing.” The descent was rocket-controlled, but the small capsule itself was ejected near the surface and cushioned by an inflatable impact system.