Mission record
Luna 21
Also known as Lunokhod 2, Luna21/Lunokhod2
U.S.S.R · Launched
Explore trajectoryCompleted · Success
The Soviet mission that delivered Lunokhod 2 to Le Monnier crater, where the rover drove further across the Moon than any vehicle before it.
- 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
- Lander, Rover
Chronology
Mission timeline
Launch
Luna 21 launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome
Mission architecture
Vehicles
Trajectory record
Time-dependent navigation trajectory
Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.
Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.
- Luna 21 landed hardware: Physically reconstructed based on publicly available data · bounded LROC fixed-site estimate · January 17, 1973 to February 17, 1973
Provenance
Sources
Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.
Data verified through October 12, 2026
- Luna 21 - NASA NSSDCA Master Catalog — NSSDCAMission page · Supports: mission claims · event claims
- LROC Science Operations Team: Coordinates of Lunar Anthropogenic Targets (28 July 2016) — NASATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Luna 21 mission, spacecraft and orbital records — NSSDCATechnical document · Supports: mission claims
- Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, 1958–2016 — lunar launch records — 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
- JPL Solar System Dynamics Astrodynamic Parameters — JPLOther · Supports: destination/body context