Luna 20 was an
unmanned space mission of the
Luna program, also called Lunik 20.
Luna 20 was placed in an intermediate Earth parking orbit and from this orbit was sent towards the
Moon. It entered lunar orbit on
February 18,
1972. On
February 21 1972, Luna 20 soft landed on the
Moon in a mountainous area known as the
Apollonius highlands[?] near
Mare Fecunditatis (Sea of Fertility), 120 km from where
Luna 16 had impacted. While on the lunar surface, the panoramic television system was operated. Lunar samples were obtained by means of an extendable drilling apparatus. The ascent stage of Luna 20 was launched from the lunar surface on 22 February 1972 carrying 30 grams of collected lunar samples in a sealed capsule. It landed in the
Soviet Union on 25 February 1972. The lunar samples were recovered the following day.
- Launch Date/Time: 1972-02-14 at 03:27:59 UTC
- On-orbit dry mass: 5600 kg
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