Soviet Union - Luna Programme/Lunik First Lunar Spacecraft First to the Moon CIA Files

Soviet Union - Luna Programme/Lunik First Lunar Spacecraft First to the Moon CIA Files

1,441 pages of documents dealing with the Soviet Luna Programme, which sent the first manmade object, Lunik 1, to the moon. 861 pages of CIA Files dating from 1959 to 1971 and 579 pages of government reports on Luna and the early Soviet space program, dating from 1958 to 1967.

A highlight in this collection is the CIA account of the "kidnapping" by the CIA of one of the Soviet program's lunar space craft. Some CIA material in this collection was not declassified until November 2019

While the United States was the first nation to place a man on the moon in 1969, the Soviet Union was the first nation to place man-made objects on the moon beginning in 1959.

The Luna programme (from the Russian word Луна "Luna" meaning "Lunar" or "Moon"), often called Lunik or Lunnik by western media, was a series of robotic spacecraft missions sent to the Moon by the Soviet Union between 1959 and 1976. Each craft was designed as either an orbiter or lander and accomplished many firsts in space exploration. They also performed many experiments, studying the Moon's chemical composition, gravity, temperature, and radiation. Twenty-four spacecraft were formally given the Luna designation, although more were launched. Those that failed to reach orbit were not publicly acknowledged at the time, and not assigned a Luna number.

Luna 1 was the first spacecraft to reach the Moon on January 2, 1959. It went into orbit around the Sun, between the orbits of Earth and Mars.

Luna 2 was the second of a series of spacecraft launched in the direction of the Moon. On September 14, 1959 it became the first spacecraft to land on the Moon, it impacted the lunar surface east of Mare Serenitatis near the Aristides, Archimedes, and Autolycus craters. The mission confirmed that the Moon had no appreciable magnetic field and found no evidence of radiation belts at the Moon.


CIA FILES

Topics included in the CIA files include: The boost to Khrushchev’s political situation in the Soviet Union in part because of Luna. Reporting and propaganda by the Soviets about Lunik missions and the Soviet space program in general. Speculation that Soviet claims of reaching the moon was a hoax. The use of the Soviet space program for the acquisition of scientific and technological data which would be applicable to the Soviet Union's inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) program. Comparison between USSR and U.S. achievements in various fields of space science.


THE CIA KIDNAPING OF THE LUNIK

CIA files contain a historical monograph on the kidnapping of a Lunik spacecraft. In 1959/1960 the Soviet Union toured several countries with an exhibition of its industrial and economic achievements. Including models of the Sputnik and Lunik space vehicles. It turned out the Lunik model was an actual partially equipped Lunik craft. The CIA ran an operation in which it obtained access to visually examine the vehicle. Later it was able intercept the craft while it was being moved from one exhibition location to another. This time CIA technicians unassembled and reassembled the Lunk and placed it back in transport. The monograph details the covert and overt intelligence assets and tactics required for the mission.
 

Government Reports include:

Comprehensive Analysis of Soviet Space Program, Based on Soviet Open Literature, 1958-61 - Library of Congress May 1961

Soviet Space Technology - Hearings before the Committee on Science and Astronautics and Special Subcommittee on Lunik Probe, U. S. House of Representatives, Eighty-sixth Congress, first session May 1959

Surface and Atmosphere of the Moon Review of Soviet Literature Library of Congress (1962)