Space & Astronomy

Long-lost Soviet Moon lander rediscovered more than 60 years on

By T.K. Randall
February 19, 2026

Image: Luna 9
Credit: Pbernardes / CC BY-SA 4.0 (adapted) Back in the 1960s, before Apollo 11 saw humans land on the Moon for the first time, the Soviet Union had been hard at work developing its own lunar lander - an uncrewed probe known as Luna 9.

After a successful launch, the spacecraft reached the Moon on February 3rd, 1966, before hitting the surface with considerable force and bouncing several times across the lunar landscape.

Once it had stopped and deployed, it managed to capture and send back nine photographs.

Due to the fact that it had no solar panels, however, it ran out of power and died after just three days.The exact whereabouts of Luna 9's landing site went on to become something of a mystery, with scientists unable to pinpoint exactly where the probe had touched down.

Now, though, thanks to a machine-learing algorithm capable of examining thousands of photographs taken by NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, researchers have finally been able to find what they believe to be the place where Luna 9 came down - as well as where it bounced across the surface.

While the discovery has yet to be definitively confirmed, it is by far the most promising candidate site found to date and it is unlikely the disturbances on the ground were produced by anything else.

With any luck, this discovery will serve to finally close a long-open chapter in early lunar exploration.

Source: Mail Online

Tags: Moon