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Mission record

Luna 19

Also known as Lunik 19, Luna19

U.S.S.R · Launched

Explore trajectory

Completed · Success

A Soviet lunar orbiter that surveyed the Moon's surface, gravitational field and surrounding plasma for more than a year.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
Proton Booster Plus Upper Stage and Escape Stages
Launch site
Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), U.S.S.R
Countries
Soviet Union
Mission types
Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Luna 19 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome

  2. Orbit insertion

    Luna 19 entered a 141.2 x 133.9 km lunar orbit

    Moon

  3. Loss of contact

    Communications were lost after more than a year and 4000 orbits

    Moon

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • Luna 19 · Orbiter

    Destinations: Moon

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.
  • Finer event-time constraints where required by an orbital reconstruction; the stored day/month/year precision is retained.
  • Published scalar orbit altitudes and inclination do not determine a timed, frame-qualified 3D position and velocity.
  • NASA Beyond Earth prints 2 October 1972 for orbit insertion, inconsistent with the 28 September 1971 launch; NSSDCA gives 2 October 1971.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through August 27, 2026