Luna 23

Luna 23 was an unmanned space mission of the Luna program, also called Lunik 23. Luna 23 was a Moon lander mission which was intended to return a lunar sample to Earth. Launched to the Moon by a Proton SL-12/D-1-e booster, the spacecraft was damaged during landing in Mare Crisium (Sea of Crises). The sample collecting apparatus could not operate and no samples were returned. The lander continued transmissions for 3 days after landing. In 1976, Luna 24 landed several hundred meters away and successfully returned samples.

• Launch Date/Time: 1974-10-28 at 14:30:32 UTC
• On-orbit dry mass: 5600 kg