On January 8, 1973, the Soviet Union released the Luna 21 mission to land a rover on the moon. This was the second time that the Soviet Union put a rover on the moon, and it was the 13th successful lunar landing of the Luna program. Like the other Luna missions, Luna 21 was an uncrewed, robotic spacecraft. It released on a Proton rocket and touched down in the Le Monnier crater one week later on. About three hours after landing, it released the rover, Lunokhod 2. The Soviet Unions remote-controlled Lunokhod 2 moon rover took a trip 23 miles (37 kilometers) throughout the lunar surface area in 1973. (Image credit: NASA) The rover traveled about 24 miles and took more than 80,000 pictures on the moon prior to it accidentally rolled into a crater, where it got dust all over its photovoltaic panels and died.Catch up on our entire “On This Day In Space” series on YouTube with this playlist. On This Day in Space Archive! Still insufficient space? Dont forget to take a look at our Space Image of the Day, and on the weekends our Best Space Photos and Top Space News Stories of the week. Email Hanneke Weitering at [email protected] or follow her @hannekescience. Follow us @Spacedotcom and on Facebook..
