Completed · Success
The first spacecraft to go into orbit around the Moon, and the first human-made object to orbit any body beyond the Earth; it operated for 56 days over 460 lunar orbits, returning data on the Moon's magnetic field, radiation environment and distorted gravity field.
- Destinations
- Launch vehicle
- Modified SS-6 (Sapwood) with 2nd Generation Upper Stage + Escape Stage
- Launch site
- Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R
- Countries
- Soviet Union
- Mission types
- Orbiter
Chronology
Mission timeline
Deployment
Luna 10 orbiter separated from its bus
Mission architecture
Vehicles
Trajectory record
Trajectory dataset not yet available
Known dates and encounters do not uniquely determine a flight path. This mission’s sourced timeline is available above; no verified trajectory is currently published here.
What is needed to reconstruct this path?
- A frame-qualified position and vector velocity at an epoch, or equivalent complete orbital elements.
- Approach/departure directions and burn vectors between the reported encounters; body names and encounter distances alone are insufficient.
- Separate state histories and release epochs for the listed vehicles; a parent mission trajectory cannot be assigned to every component.
- Finer event-time constraints where required by an orbital reconstruction; the stored day/month/year precision is retained.
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through October 8, 2026
- Luna 10 - NASA NSSDCA Spacecraft Details — NSSDCAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Determination of the Gravitational Field of the Moon by the Motion of the AMS Luna-10, Akim, NASA translationST-CM-LPS-10532 (1966) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Luna 10 mission, spacecraft and orbital records — NSSDCATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Luna-10 in orbit around the Moon: NASA translation of the Tass communiqué and Pravda editorial (ST-PR-LPS-10472) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- JPL Solar System Dynamics Astrodynamic Parameters — JPLOther · Supports: mission claims · destination/body context
- Luna 10 and 12 satellites - NASA HEASARC Mission Archive — NASAArchive · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- Deep Space Chronicle: A Chronology of Deep Space and Planetary Probes 1958–2000, NASA/SP-2002-4524, Luna 10 entry — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- DE421 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFTechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- DE440 lunar mean-Earth and principal-axes frame specification — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- IAU rotational elements and body radii (PCK 00011) — NAIFSpice · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA global lunar height maps, LDEM_4 V3 original PDS source label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- LOLA 2023 south-polar elevation, uncertainty and effective-resolution maps — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Seen From Above: LROC site and terrain context — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Moon Facts — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context
- SLDEM2015 Blue Ghost region: original PDS elevation-grid label — NASATechnical document · Supports: destination/body context
- Planet Sizes and Locations in Our Solar System — NASAOther · Supports: destination/body context