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[View Image]
| .....The
Luna 13 spacecraft was launched toward
the Moon from an earth-orbiting platform
and accomplished a soft landing on
December 24, 1966, in the region of
Oceanus Procellarum. The petal encasement
of the spacecraft was opened, antennas
were erected, and radio transmissions to
Earth began four minutes after the
landing. On December 25 and 26, 1966, the
spacecraft television system transmitted
panoramas of the nearby lunar landscape
at different sun angles. Each panorama
required approximately 100 minutes to
transmit. The spacecraft was equipped
with a mechanical soil-measuring
penetrometer, a dynamograph, and a
radiation densitometer for obtaining data
on the mechanical and physical properties
and the cosmic-ray reflectivity of the
lunar surface. It is believed that
transmissions from the spacecraft ceased
before the end of December 1966. |
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